When I first walked into the room where the Balkan Women’s Academy BAZA was about to begin in 2023, I had no idea that these meetings would become a source of strength, courage, and solidarity. Today, after three editions of the Academy, BAZA has brought together 35 women from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia, women connected not only by geography, but by shared values: courage, democratic commitment, and a deep belief that their countries belong in the European Union.
Strengthening women’s leadership in public life in the Western Balkans is not merely a question of equality – it is a prerequisite for a modern, democratic, and stable region. These societies share the legacy of the wars of the 1990s, post-conflict recovery, and long democratic transitions. Throughout these processes, women have played a crucial role: holding communities together, initiating dialogue, and rebuilding trust. Today, they must also be present where decisions are made, shaping laws and public policies that are just and lasting.
This is where BAZA begins. The Academy equips women with knowledge, tools, and confidence – resources often denied to them during years of political instability and reconstruction. It is a space where leaders are formed: prepared, resilient, and ready to bring change to politics and society.
BAZA participants are activists, experts, entrepreneurs, educators, journalists, and local politicians. Among the graduates are city councillors in Zagreb and Sarajevo, women holding leadership roles within political parties, and founders of women’s forums advocating for transparency, human rights, and equality. Others operate on the international stage – within the UN system, the Council of Europe, global think tanks, and international media – ensuring that the voices of Balkan women are heard far beyond the region.
Nowhere is this leadership more visible than in Serbia, where women have been at the forefront of mass protests against corruption, violence, and democratic backsliding. At the same time, Serbian activists and legal experts are fighting for the recognition of femicide as a distinct crime. In a country where violence against women remains widespread and underreported, women are building their own data, naming injustices, and demanding accountability from the state.
Bosnia and Herzegovina presents a different but equally complex reality: a politically fragmented country still living with the trauma of war. Yet it also holds immense human potential: young, educated, and ambitious citizens determined to overcome nationalism and division. Women leaders there build bridges across ethnic lines, resisting manipulation and advocating for peace and democratic resilience.
Croatia, as the only EU member among the three, offers both hope and perspective. Its women leaders show that EU accession is not the end of the journey, but the beginning of deeper responsibility – strengthening institutions, protecting human rights, and ensuring that European values translate into daily practice.
For many BAZA participants, Poland remains a powerful reference point, a country that proves democratic transformation and EU membership are achievable through determination and civic engagement.
In a Europe shaken by war in Ukraine and growing geopolitical uncertainty, EU enlargement is no longer an abstract ideal, it is a strategic necessity. Without the Western Balkans, Europe remains incomplete.
The women of BAZA remind me daily that courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision to act despite it. Their struggle – for democracy, safety, and a European future – is not only theirs. Europe needs them as much as they need Europe.
BAZA is not just a program.
It is a community.
And it is a promise of a stronger, more inclusive Europe.
Continue exploring:
Overcoming Challenges: Political Realignment and Revival of the Civil Union Debate in Poland