View from the Inside: Voices from the Margins and Solutions from the Neighbourhood

The published material received more than 1.2 million views on Gerila.info, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
The documentaries showed what happened to the people featured in the stories and where the institutions had failed to help them. In the podcasts, practitioners and advocates working in Austria explained how similar issues are handled there. Gerila.info also published six sets of policy recommendations and an open-access Solutions Journalism Toolkit for local media.

Project Activities

Gerila.info researched and produced six short documentaries. One followed Uroš Živković and his family and their experience of living with a rare syndrome. Another told the story of Dragan Samardžić, a man with a disability who also cares for his 95-year-old mother. The remaining films covered the dismissal of Đorđa Piljak while he was on sick leave, poverty and exclusion among Roma residents of Zavidovići, unemployment through the experience of Sergej Milanović from Mrkonjić Grad, and the everyday life of Dijana Popović, a single mother from the Doboj area.

The reporting dealt with access to treatment and school support, care for older people and people with disabilities, protection of workers during illness, Roma inclusion, youth employment and the enforcement of child support. The documentaries were edited, subtitled and published on Gerila.info and YouTube.

For the podcast series, the team travelled to Austria and interviewed practitioners and advocates working in health care, social services, labour rights, Roma inclusion, employment and support for single parents. The interviews examined how institutions in Austria deal with the same problems covered in the documentaries. The guests also discussed the limits of the Austrian system and which measures might be applicable in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Gerila.info published six policy briefs as part of the podcast articles. These included recommendations for institutions responsible for health care, social protection, employment and family support. The outlet also published a SoJo Toolkit with practical instructions for local media on researching sensitive personal stories, examining responses to the same problems elsewhere, preparing recommendations and planning distribution.

All six documentaries and six podcasts were published on Gerila.info and YouTube and promoted through Facebook and Instagram. The material received approximately 923,000 views on Facebook and 312,000 views on YouTube. YouTube recorded almost 7,500 hours of watch time. The related articles received about 3,900 views on Gerila.info, while the Instagram posts received approximately 2,100 views. The project's Facebook posts recorded around 4,000 reactions, more than 28,000 clicks, 216 comments and 134 shares.
The newsroom now has a production process it can use for similar stories. For each topic, the team produced a documentary, an interview about possible responses, a set of recommendations and material for social media. The people and communities covered by the project have also published videos in which their experiences are documented in their own words.

What is the impact?

The project covered places that receive little regular reporting on social issues, including Prnjavor, Berkovići, Glamoč, Zavidovići, Mrkonjić Grad and villages near Doboj. Local reporting in these communities is often limited, while national media usually visit only after a crisis, scandal or humanitarian appeal. Gerila.info reported from these places over several months and allowed the people affected by the problems to explain their circumstances directly.

The project also covered subjects that receive less attention than daily political disputes: rare diseases, home care, workers' rights, Roma exclusion, youth unemployment and the position of single mothers. The documentaries presented the cases, while the podcasts and policy briefs provided further information about institutional responsibilities and possible measures.

This reporting did not resolve the shortage of local journalism. It also did not produce a confirmed change in public policy. Some institutions ignored or delayed the team's requests for information. The project nevertheless provided nine months of reporting from undercovered communities and left Gerila.info with a production process that can be used for future stories.

Gerila.info's regular audience was presented with more reporting on social protection, health care, employment and discrimination than it usually receives from the outlet. The documentaries attracted considerably more views than the podcasts. The podcasts had a smaller audience but provided additional information about laws, services and practices in Austria.

The project material received more than 1.2 million views across the four platforms. These figures represent views recorded by different platforms and should not be interpreted as the number of unique people reached. They nevertheless show that stories about social problems attracted a sizable audience when they were based on specific people and circumstances.

During the project period, the number of followers of Gerila.info on Facebook increased by almost 3,500, from 26,100 to 29,563. The number of YouTube subscribers increased by 300, from 3,063 to 3,365.

After publication, the people featured in the documentaries received copies of the videos and said they were satisfied with how their experiences had been presented. Civil society organisations, other media and local actors also expressed interest in the stories and the reporting process. No policy reform can be directly linked to the project. The clearest result for the communities was that their experiences were recorded, published and presented to an audience outside their immediate surroundings.

Project Links

• Gerila
• Život s rijetkim sindromom: Priča dječaka Uroša Živkovića i njegove porodice
• Humanost umjesto sistema: Dragan Samardžić više od pola vijeka živi sa dijabetesom
• Došao iz bolnice i dobio otkaz
• Romi u Zavidovićima: Život bez posla, pomoći i nade | Dokumentarni film
• Mladi nezaposleni u Mrkonjić Gradu: Do posla teško bez stranačke knjižice!
• Život bez pauze: Samohrana majka u BiH | Priča Dijane Popović
• Rijetke bolesti: Ako je sistem težak i u Austriji, šta onda čeka porodice u BiH? | Gerila podkast
• Kako Austrija brine o starim i nemoćnim osobama: Lekcije za BiH | Gerila podkast
• Radnik u Austriji nije sam: Šta BiH može naučiti od sistema koji štiti radnička prava|Gerila podkast
• Romi u Austriji: Kako sistem pomaže tamo gdje BiH okreće glavu | Gerila podkast
• Mladi bez posla: Zašto u BiH vrijedi članska karta, a u Austriji sistem? | Gerila podkast
• Samohrane majke u BiH su same: Kako Austrija štiti djecu i roditelje? | Gerila podkast