[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 27 (Monday, July 8, 1996)]
[Pages 1160-1161]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Bosnian Women's Initiative Fund

June 29, 1996

    Today, I am pleased to announce an initial contribution of $5 
million to establish the Bosnian women's initiative fund. A peaceful, 
prosperous Bosnia will require the full participation of its women.
    Many Bosnian women now find themselves sole providers for their 
families. They have lost their husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers. 
Despite the hardship they have suffered, these women have displayed 
incredible strength, endurance, and resourcefulness, qualities that are 
essential to rebuilding their country.
    To do this successfully they need resources. They need training. 
This initiative means loans for income-generating projects that women 
can do from home. It means loans to women-owned businesses or to 
companies where large numbers of women work. It means training in 
business management, marketing and accounting, farming techniques for 
those returning to agricultural communities, and in skills vital to 
rebuilding their country, like engineering, architecture, plumbing, and 
construction.
    The fund will be managed by the United Nations High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) with international and national nongovernmental 
organization as implementing partners.
    Even as I am making this announcement, over 500 Bosnian women 
leaders are meeting in Sarajevo. They have traveled from every part of 
the region, crossing ethnic lines, to work together on plans to rebuild 
their country. These plans will be incorporated into this initiative, 
for it is the Bosnian women themselves who hold the key to their future.
    By providing new programs focused on women's reintegration into the 
Bosnian economy, we will enable them to support their families, to work 
as full partners in society, and to promote prosperity. I believe that 
the enhancement of Bosnian women's economic and political participating 
will help foster stability in the region.

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    I urge our fellow members of the G-7 and other countries to join the 
United States in supporting this initiative and contributing funding for 
it.