The Chief of Staff at NATO HQ Sarajevo (NHQ Sa) recently paid an official visit to the Institute for Protection of Female Children and Youth – Višegrad, which is a unique social and health care residential institution for females in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

At the end of last year NATO launched a project, in which it has contributed EUR 6,000 to the operating costs of the institute founded in 1961. This shows that “NATO is more than a political and military alliance because it carries out humanitarian missions as well on many sites around the world”, Col. (Eng.) Ferenc Kovács, the Chief of Staff of NHQ Sa said with reference to the visit.

The institute performs educational and rehabilitation tasks for mentally injured and autistic children and adults. The excellent professional team – which comprises doctors, nurses, special needs teachers, psychologists, social workers and care assistants – looks after the residents, and their dedicated work should be held up as an example for everybody, the chief of staff pointed out.

The leaders of the institute have spent the donation on setting up a ceramic section which enables residents to develop their skills, maintain their mental balance and handle their tension with therapeutic goals. The leadership has set the broader aim of selling the artifacts to be produced in the ceramic workshop, thereby contributing to the meager budget of the institution.

(Ministry of Defence)