Every person in Bosnia and Herzegovina must be provided with a way to realize the right to a dignified hot meal – this is the goal of the United Nations development program. UNDP conducted a mapping of public kitchens in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it showed that the right to a hot meal for vulnerable categories of the population has not yet been universally recognized or resolved. This human right in public kitchens is regulated only in certain local communities in the country.
Food insecurity is constantly increasing. Almost 13 percent of the population was at risk of food insecurity back in 2020, today those numbers are certainly higher. Through dialogues, like the one in Mostar today, changes in policies are advocated so that the issue of a basic human right, which is the right to a meal, is resolved through the system.
“Soup kitchens are the only form of institution that provides this kind of help to people who are in a state of social need. We still don’t have a food bank in Bosnia and Herzegovina that would redistribute surplus food according to such categories, nor do we have social supermarkets or certain other food assistance programs,” explains Amina Omićević, representative of the UNDP innovation and integration unit.
Changes must take place in policies through the adoption of effective laws and through the social protection system – say UNDP. Unfortunately, in some local communities there are no public kitchens where the needy could ask for help. There are no registers of public kitchens, nor user databases. There is always a lack of financial resources for existing public kitchens, and there are fewer and fewer donors.
“It is not enough to just get some food. Many things affect the price of a meal, such as wages for workers and contributions to the state and VAT, which is constantly talked about, and all the accompanying overhead costs because you can’t just bring food from a store, from the market and put it in front of the user,” points out Alen Kajtaz, director of the Red Cross Mostar.
Social entrepreneurship, or social enterprises, can be an excellent way to ensure food for all, giving users the space and opportunity to grow their own food and share or sell surpluses. The abolition of VAT on donated food is a small step forward, primarily in efforts to reduce the destruction of food that can serve as a quality meal for someone.
