CSR Leaders 2017 - Veran Matic, Fund B92 chairman

- For 13 years now, B92 Fund has dealt with humanitarian campaigns. What were the biggest challenges you faced?

VERAN MATIC: There were many challenges, part of them had changed over time, and part remained until the present day. When you live and work in a poor society, you most often had to make priorities, on the expense of strategic planning. Then, you often compensate this with the activities that the state or institutions are obliged to do, so we change roles. This makes it so hard to sort out the activities and role of foundation. On the other hand, state institutions are getting used to such situation, so something that should be provisional becomes permanent reality. Although there are such expectations, general social climate is such that it does not allow positive landscape for charitable activities. There is, for example, no relief regulations for the implementation of the projects. Instead of making stimulating state and social practice, in order to maximize the contribution of donors, companies, citizens, there is permanent suspicion of abuse.

What we lack the most is systematic creation of more human society, social solidarity, through educational system, through intensive development of the culture of giving on all levels, encouraging innovations in this field.

For me personally, I face with challenges on a daily basis. When I approach the man that rummage through garbage container, looking for food, in order to help him, I face with a challenge how to overcome the sense of one's own shame, and the shame of this particular man that is forced to do this in order to survive. We all have to face with this shame, and overcome it, in order to help one another.

- According to your...