Insight on Conflict: Developing an Organisation

SPARK Director Yannick du Pont recalls SPARK’s initial challenges and successes to becoming the organisation they are today, as a guest blogger for Insight on Conflict, a blog that provides information on local peace building organisations in areas of conflict.

It was in 1994 during the Bosnian War that SPARK found its roots.  As part of a student movement from the University of Amsterdam, we began sending food aid to the city of Tuzla in North East Bosnia in response to the armed conflict that began in 1992.  One insight that we gained early on is that people wanted more sustainable forms of assistance, thus we adjusted our programme to meet their requests and developed an academic support programme. We switched from food aid to education support assistance on local request…read more