Marking 25 years of existence and successful work, the Belgrade Open School team created a digital monograph organized around three strategic goals of the Belgrade Open School - human resources development, improvement of public policies and capacity building.
Through numerous interactive and picturesque content pieces, the monograph writes a story about the development of BOS and its achievements in the previous period. Readers can expect a handful of old and new photos, video interviews with associates, alumni, partners, infographics, authororial texts by the founders of the organization and representatives of the youngest generations of students and other multimedia content.
Through the authorial texts of BOS team members, accompanied by graphic, photo and video content, there are graphic descriptions of the conditions in which BOS as an organization emerged and grew, evolving from a one-year educational program to an organization that conducts more than 30 thematically diverse projects addressing issues like the environment and energy, youth employability, development of civil society, education of representatives of the private, public and civil sector, youth policies and many others.
Going through all the segments of the monograph, readers will have the opportunity to read in the text "25 Years of People's Story" by Marinko Vucinic, one of the founders and President of the BOS Assembly, about the philosophical and pedagogical attitudes of the school that are clearly reflected in the inspiring text of Professor Djuro Susnjic, "Why the Belgrade Open School", today current today as it was in 1994 when it was written:
"The writer of the Rebellious Man, Albert Kami, rightly says - Consciousness comes to the world by rebellion. We stand therefore because of the School that develops critical thinking, and not for a school that fosters passive memory: one can remember a lot without understanding anything. We want to get out of our school not narrow experts but widely educated people. "
Evica Kuc, Business Communications Manager of BOS, recounts the development of human resources in the section "25 years of Learning for Life" as the BOS’ first strategic goal and an integral part of the methods, goals, projects and activities of the Belgrade Open School.
"From the beginning, we have learned a lot because BOS’ one-year program has developed into an organization through which in the first 10 years hundreds of local and foreign lecturers and associates have passed. Development as an imperative was not reserved for the best students only, but it expanded to the entire region through the first schools and seminars of political education and inter-religious dialogue."
Vladimir M. Pavlovic, Policy Coordinator, in the section "25 Years of Changing Society", through the prism of the BOS’ mission, describes the inevitability and efforts of involving BOS in a complex process of improving public policies in order to improve the community it belongs to.
"A small player in a complex public policy network, contaminated by the idea that problems can be tackled on fact-based public policies, BOS has begun to advocate this concept before others that were responsible and obligated to tackle these questions. An enthusiast dedicated to transferring knowledge and mentoring others how to devise and apply public policies in practice, aware of the limitations of their reach in a society that is still searching for their democratic identity."
Ana Stevanovic Zdravev, Project Coordinator, in the article "For 25 years of Strengthening the Civil, Public and Business Sector" gives an overview of the positioning of BOS as "a hub for sharing experiences and knowledge between the three social sectors, as well as for bridging the differences that sometimes seem insurmountable between these parts of social organization ".
Finally, in the monograph, a speech by Vesna Djukic, general director of BOS, is available, which she gave at the BOS’ 25th anniversary, with photos and video materials from the event. Recalling the conditions that motivated the "group of enthusiasts", as she addressed the founders of the organization and the initiators of the development of an innovative and noble project, Vesna Djukic referred to the beginnings of BOS and the people who built it in the following period.
"Selected, special, the best! Those who have written the magical pages of the unique BOS story. The story about people. The story about all of you that made Belgrade Open School become a recognizable and desirable place for gathering, educating and connecting a kind of elite of spirit, knowledge and action. For that, I thank you all endlessly. For every idea, effort, and result over the past 25 years."