Youth in Peace-building and Reconciliation

The training activity took place

in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

organised by SEEYN - South East European Youth Network

01/12/2013 - 10/12/2013

Aims & objectives

Training aimed to equip 30 youth workers with competencies to develop local and/or international projects that promote peace, intercultural dialogue and are against violence and hate speech.
Specific objectives:
- Understanding concepts of peace and conflict, together with its potential for growth and development;
- Reflecting on own experiences, emotions and responses to conflict;
- Sharing personal and community stories and realities;
- Developing competencies of working towards conflict transformation and peace building;
- Empowering to take peace building initiatives and interventions in the community.

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

Targeted partner organisations were from European divided communities, conflict and post conflict areas as well as regions where tensions and hate speech are increasing.
The participants were coming from 24 different countries: Georgia, Russia, Slovenia, Romania, Latvia, Montenegro, Turkey, Moldova, Albania, Armenia, Macedonia, Spain, Ukraine, Croatia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Lithuania, Kosovo, Serbia, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The team was composed of 3 trainers: Sinisa Stanivuk (Croatia), Ilija Jovanovic (Serbia) and Snezana Baclija Knoch (Serbia).

Training methods used & main activities

The training encompassed 4 complementary phases:
1. Understanding concepts and keywords behind the training (mainly implemented trough small group work, creative expression, inputs etc.)
2. Sharing personal and community realities from divided communities (self-reflection, presentations, personifications etc.)
3. Developing skills of conflict transformation (inputs, role-plays, small group work etc.)
4. Practical planning of activities for divided communities (practical self-managed work, presentations, strategical planning).

Outcomes of the activity

The outcomes of the TC were:
- 7 peace initiatives for divided communities developed by participants in international teams.
- 30 participants improved their competencies of understanding and transforming conflicts on different levels in the society;
- participants shared and increased their knowledge of conflict realities in 24 European countries, as well as realities of divided communities in those countries;
- participants individually planned and developed activities related to peace-building in their work.

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

I was one of the co-trainers, responsible for the programme design, training delivery, mentoring of the training units, evaluation and reporting.