Alice Rowan Swanson Fellow Ana Gvozdi膰 brings human rights project to her hometown
February 20th, 2025 | Alumni, Europe, Fellowships, IHP, SIT Study Abroad
By Joanna Tanger
Ana Gvozdi膰鈥檚 childhood in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was marked by the legacy of war, but a summer youth program played an important role in her adolescence. 鈥淢ostar Summer Youth Program was a space where I could share a classroom with other students regardless of our backgrounds, and connect and learn,鈥� she says when discussing the divisions along ethnic lines that caused segregation in her hometown鈥檚 schools.
In spring 2024, Gvozdi膰 won the Alice Rowan Swanson Fellowship and implemented the project 鈥淚nclusive Human Rights Education: The Mostar Summer Youth Program Expansion鈥� to further address the division in the city where she was born and lived for 15 years.
鈥淭o come back, teach human rights advocacy to the teenagers from my hometown, and support other international teachers in cultivating this important space was really meaningful.鈥�
The Alice Rowan Swanson Fellowship enables SIT alumni to return to their program country to pursue development projects. After completing an SIT program focused on in 2020, Gvozdi膰 applied for and was awarded the fellowship last year. Her project's goals were to contribute to human rights through youth education in Mostar by collaborating with the U膷iMo Foundation on their flagship project, the Mostar Summer Youth Program (MSYP). MSYP is a three-week education program led by local and international volunteers. Gvozdi膰鈥檚 project included a local sensitivity training for MSYP staff members, aimed at empowering them to create a positive learning environment in the aftermath of conflict, and a human rights advocacy course for youth aged 14-19 from Mostar and the surrounding areas.
The human rights advocacy course started with an introduction to the . To better understand the document and apply it to the world around them, Gvozdi膰 tasked students with cutting out articles from the newspaper and connecting them with articles from the Declaration. This provided students with the opportunity to practice articulating examples of human rights and human rights violations in their communities.
At the conclusion of the project, both students and staff responded favorably to Gvozdi膰鈥檚 courses. Their strong, positive responses indicate a continued need and interest in a local sensitivity module for staff and continued human rights programming for youth participants.
The project solidified Gvozdi膰鈥檚 career aspirations and interest in inclusive education. "Working on this project provided me with a valuable lesson regarding my career interests. It reminded me how passionate I am about inclusive education and providing empowering experiences for young people,鈥� she says. 鈥淎dditionally, compared to my previous experiences with summer youth programs, as part of this fellowship, I worked more closely with staff. I realized that I enjoy curriculum development, both in terms of planning my course and supporting staff with their lesson plans, as well as staff onboarding more broadly connected to the teacher training I led."
This experience made such a difference for Gvozdi膰 that she decided to join the U膷iMo Foundation鈥檚 program strategy committee to continue working on program development. 鈥淲orking closely with MSYP, as a program that I really appreciated back when I was a teenager in Mostar, reignited my commitment to this initiative. I joined two other program alumni to work on an impact study that will assess the program鈥檚 impact over the past ten years and identify points of improvement.鈥�
Gvozdi膰 is also currently working towards a master鈥檚 in Holocaust and genocide studies at Uppsala University. As part of her degree, she did a ten-week internship with a professor, working on a paper about the perpetrators of war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the process of transitional justice.
SIT is currently accepting applications for the spring 2025 . The deadline to apply is March 1, 2025. The Fellowship was established in 2009 by the family of SIT Nicaragua 2006 alumna Alice Rowan Swanson as a living tribute to her life, her passion for bridging cultures and helping others, and the role that SIT Study Abroad played in her life. A 2007 Amherst College graduate, Alice was killed while riding her bike to work in 2008. The fellowships are awarded twice annually to SIT Study Abroad and International Honors Program alumni to return to their program country and pursue further development projects benefiting human rights in that region.