Training Workshops International (TWI) 
for the Children 

GOALS, BACKGROUND, EXPECTATIONS 
AND 
PROJECT EVALUATION PROCESS

 

This page provides our PROGRAM GOALS and explains the background of Training Workshops International (TWI) for the Children, our EXPECTATIONS and how we evaluate each of our projects.  

 

EXPECTATIONS:

 

TWI for the Children has spent the past ten years working in Bosnia and now in Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro. We are dedicated  to helping the precious children  of the Balkans.  Our work teaches the need for  love and reconciliation. The children are this regions best means of achieving true reconciliation.   TWI feeds the children who are hungry,  donates clothing to those who don't have proper clothes, and loves everyone of them , with unconditional love - not thinking about who they are: Orthodox Christian Serb, Muslim Bosniaks, Catholic Croat, or a child from a mixed marriage. TWI is an important part of their lives, because we come to them with no bias and we give them our heartfelt  love.

 

 

"Mission Goals"

 

TWI for the Children" develops projects in the Balkans that:

(1) Provide training workshops to educate caregivers, teachers and social workers in subjects that can assist in helping the children of the Balkans ;

(2) Provide educational opportunities  that will assist young people in the Balkans to obtain an education and to develop job skills ;
 
(3) Provide summer camps to children in schools and orphanages throughout the Balkans; 

(4) Provide assistance  to special needs and disadvantaged children and their families to help them adjust to life; 

(5) Provide  instructors to teach in Bosnian Universities and to instruct children in Balkan orphanages.  

PROGRAM LEADERSHIP

Our NEEDS  continually change and we continually  prepare new projects to meet these needs. CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT THE LEADERSHIP OF "TWI FOR THE CHILDREN".

 

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT:

Our projects have: Clear plans of action; Stable leadership; Close collaboration with partners in the Balkans.. We strive to provide at least 95 percent of our donations to our projects. Our directors and officers receive no salary..

PROJECT EVALUATION:

Each of our projects is an "Outcome-based" activity.  We require that each of our projects have:

 (1) "Statements of Work" ,

 (2) Metrics of Success and,

  (3) "Memoranda of Understanding" between TWI and the Balkan organization with whom we are working.  

Each project is evaluated against its "Statement of Work" and if the project does not meet the requirements established by the "Statement of Work", the project is re-evaluated and closed if necessary.

 

CLICK VIDEO TO SEE AN OVERVIEW OF TWI FOR THE CHILDREN
Video/A TWI Overview.wmv

 

PROGRAM BACKGROUND

 

The idea for Training Workshops in Bosnia and Herzegovina began in 1996 when Bobby Houser joined thirteen other Americans from around the United States to participate in a  fact finding trip sponsored by Mercy Corps International to determine needs for humanitarian assistance in Bosnia. The group arrived in-country in mid-November 1996 soon after the end of the war ended.  Although the group had watched the war on TV, it was another thing to see it's effects first hand. It changed their lives.

 

 

 

 Following this trip, Bobby Houser and her husband Mike decided that their Christian up-bringing and  years in the military had prepared them for the "second half of their lives".  After much prayer and conversations with their children and their church, they dedicated their lives to working with  children in the Balkans by creating the non-profit organization, TWI for the Children, Inc.

 

 

Initial Program Activity:

From this point on,  there has been no stopping TWI's work in the Balkans. The first request for help came from the director of the orphanage in Zenica. TWI was asked to help return to the children some of the childhood they had lost because of the war.  In 1997, TWI worked with about 140 children at the orphanage in Zenica and over 300 children at the school in Gradacac. AND there were only five on that first team -  plus four Bosnian team members. Read the journal of this initial camp for kids in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1997. This first team was overwhelmed! The children loved the Camp2Kids. The caretakers in the orphanage and the school teachers saw that these precious children enjoyed following directions and responded to our love.  As our leaders met with the directors of the orphanage and school after each camp, they discussed how to further help the children. Listening to these needs, TWI for the Children has worked diligently to provide projects designed to fulfill these requests. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TWI for the Children Projects:

 

From the early 1997 days, TWI has grown into an  organization that includes projects we never  thought about back then. But now as back then, each of our project deals with children. Our Camps to Kids Project annually takes volunteers to host day camps at small towns and orphanages throughout the Balkans and for special needs children and their families; our Training Workshop Project takes professional speakers to host workshops for teachers and orphanage caregivers in the Balkans; the International Studies Project provides volunteers to teach English in orphanages, provides funds for deserving students at Universities in the Balkans and provides instructors for short-term studies in the Balkans; and the Humanitarian Support Project provides funding and advice to Learning Centers for special needs children along with support for humanitarian needs in the communities. 

In 2008, TWI will be attending a conference in Jagodina, Serbia on Learning English. Additionally, TWI is beginning a new project to host a Leadership Conference for young adults from different Balkan countries - Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

 

 

Volunteers

 

We thank each one of our dedicated volunteers for taking time from their busy life to join us and for coming with us to the Balkans at a time when these countries are going through very difficult days. 

We also thank all of our donors for making this work possible.  We pray that your help will continue so that we can continue our work in the Balkans. 

We have been so blessed by working with these wonderful children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ADDITIONAL FACTS:

   
To learn additional details of our mission and objectives, click on the "TWI for the Children, Inc." Guidestar Logo below and at the "Guidestar" website, type "TWI for the Children, Inc" in the "Search" box. We are located in Springfield, VA, 22152.  Guidestar is a web site devoted to helping persons find worthwhile places to donate their funds.

 

You can help us fund our Projects in the Balkans by sending your tax-deductible check to: 

TWI for the Children 
5929 Queenston Street 
Springfield, VA 22152.   

  We need your donations to help us continue our work! Learn how to contact us!!

Help us to continue these Projects in the Balkans by providing a donation:
    Donate now by credit card to help the TWI Program   

 

 

   

updated: 04/08/2008