Since the war of the 1990s, NGOs have been active in social welfare provision in BiH but the sector has tended to be treated as marginal by those in the public sector.  We provided the lead author and data analyst to use data collected from the voluntary sector to assess the potential contribution that this sector could make to social welfare provision in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  The aim was to derive policy recommendations based on an analysis derived from the considerable literature on the voluntary/not-for-profit sector. 

The work involved: 

• Review of the literature
• Analysis of data
• Drafting of the report 

The principal recommendation was that, while NGOs are likely to continue to play an important role in delivering social welfare, public policy should review the way in which it allocates funding to NGOs in order to ensure that the support provided is aligned to government priorities.  In addition, in recognition of the important role played by unpaid volunteers in the delivery of services, the government should explore the possibility of crediting these volunteers with their social contributions so that their access to the social insurance system is safeguarded.