TİKA Supports the “My Creative World” Project

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) built a production workshop and provided consumables for the Center for Healthy Aging, which serves people over the age of 60 in Sarajevo.

The Aktiva Association was established in 2005 in order to improve the quality of life of the elderly and retirees living in Centar Municipality in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Approximately 350 of its 500 members actively participate in the activities of the association. Operating in the Center for Healthy Aging allocated by Centar Municipality, the association provides services throughout the year in various fields such as production workshops, physical exercises, psychological counseling, and citizen activism.

People over the age of 60 are among those who have been most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Long quarantine periods due to strict measures affect the elderly adversely in the psychological and physical sense. The role of the Center for Healthy Aging, which serves people over the age of 60 who live alone, has become even more important during this period. Measures taken against the pandemic in the country led to an increase in the rates of stress, depression, and fear among those over the age of 60. The “My Creative World” project has been implemented with the support of TİKA in order to prevent these adverse effects and increase the social interaction of the elderly and retirees. As part of the project, TİKA provided the necessary machinery, production sets, and consumables for the training courses to be held throughout the year in 4 different fields: felting, sewing and embroidery, decoupage, and aluminum foil embossing.

The delivery ceremony held at the Center for Healthy Aging was attended by Sadık Babür Girgin, the Republic of Turkey’s Ambassador to Sarajevo; Varja Nikolić, President of the Association; Muhammed Ünal, TİKA’s Sarajevo Program Coordinator; Elma Becirovic, Head of Production Workshops; members of the association; and press members.

In his speech at the delivery ceremony, Sadık Babür Girgin, the Republic of Turkey’s Ambassador to Sarajevo, congratulated TİKA and stated that he was proud of the project implemented. Reminding that our elders, who have worked for the society throughout their lives, deserve all kinds of support and attention to improve their quality of life, he stressed the importance of places such as the Center for Healthy Aging, where the project was implemented. Girgin concluded his speech by stating that the support provided by TİKA for the diversification of production workshops was meaningful and that he appreciated the artistic spirit of the third age group.

Varja Nikolić, President of the Association, noted that they were happy with the support provided by TİKA for the improvement of production workshops, which would enable them to diversify their range of services and sustain the project in the long term. Stating that hundreds of elderly people benefited from the services provided by the Center for Healthy Aging and that most of them participated in production workshops, Nikolić said that the number of people who would benefit from these activities would increase thanks to the support provided.

Muhammed Ünal, TİKA’s Sarajevo Program Coordinator, stated that they built a production workshop and provided consumables in order to diversify the activities of the Center for Healthy Aging and enable it to reach more people. Ünal underlined that they planned to bring instructors from Turkey for the training courses to be offered, and that they were happy to share Turkey’s experience in many fields.