On-the-ground operations in Bosnia, for NGOs based abroad.

Why we exist

The expensive part is implementation.

That’s where most of the money and most of the time leak out. Large international NGOs solve it with a country office and a compliance team. Small and mid-sized European NGOs can’t afford to — but the work still has to happen. Groundwork is the on-the-ground operational team they hire instead of build.

What we do

Customs, procurement, permits, language, regulation, vetting.

Grouped by function. New programs compose from these six.

• Operations & Logistics

  Customs, warehousing, last-mile.

  • Customs clearance and shipment handling
  • Warehousing, local logistics, last-mile delivery
  • Local hiring and short-term contracts — day rates, drivers, translators

• Procurement & Supply Chain

  Sourcing at local prices.

  • Sourcing suppliers at local prices, with the foreigner premium negotiated out
  • Due diligence on vendors and contractors before commitment
  • Major purchases — equipment, vehicles, materials
  • Contract negotiation and execution in Bosnian

• Relationships & Access

  Ministries, municipalities, partners.

  • Introductions to the right people in ministries and municipalities
  • Ongoing relationship management with decision-makers and policymakers
  • Navigating the entity-level structure — Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), Republika Srpska (RS), and the self-governing Brčko District
  • Local partner identification and vetting

• Language & Documentation

  Contracts and submissions in Bosnian.

  • Translation and interpretation — Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian ↔ English
  • Drafting and reviewing contracts in Bosnian
  • Preparing official submissions and correspondence
  • Meeting representation when HQ can’t be on the ground

• Regulatory Navigation

  Permits and approvals.

  • Permits, registrations, and official approvals
  • Compliance with local law and donor requirements simultaneously
  • Tax and legal entity questions for program setup
  • Liaison with local regulators and inspectors

• Risk & Vetting

  Vetting partners and suppliers.

  • Background checks on potential partners and suppliers
  • Identifying scam intermediaries before commitment
  • Ongoing monitoring of program-critical relationships
  • Crisis response when something goes wrong

How we work

Three operating principles.

• Direct line

  One named operations lead. Weekly written updates. A fixed scope.

• Numbers before you sign

  We tell you what running a program in Bosnia actually costs — intermediary premiums, customs delays, the foreigner mark-up — before there’s a contract.

• On the ground, on the books

  Registered in Bosnia, paying local tax, hiring locally. Reporting and process to the standard your funders expect.

How we begin

Three steps to a working engagement.

1. 01

   First call

   30 minutes on Microsoft Teams. You describe the program, where it’s stuck, and what you need handled. We tell you honestly what we can do well, and where we’re not the right fit.

2. 02

   Scoping engagement

   If the call shows we’re a fit, the next step is a written scope memo — concrete deliverables, timeline, fixed fee or day-rate range. We take this on as a small fixed-fee scoping engagement, named in advance and billed separately from the main work.

3. 03

   Engagement

   Work begins. You get a named operations lead, weekly written updates, and the relationships and vetting work that keeps the program on schedule and on budget.