Since 2001, I have been the CEO of Migrants Organise – an award-winning, grass-roots organising platform for dignity, justice and welcome for all migrants and refugees. I am a refugee from Sarajevo, where I was a journalist during the siege in the 1990s. I have abandoned journalism and dedicated myself to social justice advocacy and, later, organising.

My Fellowship in 2014 enabled me to learn more about migrant organising in the USA and I have implemented that learning in my work at Migrants Organise ever since I came back. We started by changing our name and went about organising successful grass-roots campaigns to raise awareness and build alliances for fair immigration reform and civic participation, such as voter registration of eligible migrant and ethnic minority voters.

The benefit of the Fellowship was an opportunity to see grass-roots organising in practice and to understand the process of it, which can be challenging and take a long time – but when it works it is worth it. This experience has helped me to persevere through challenging and uncertain times and stay focused on the issues that matter and the people in need of support and organising.