Sponsor Bosnian-Herzegovinian youth to build peace

We hope that you are all okay, healthy and safe at your homes.

Before the start of the pandemic COVID-19, CIM's Peace Camp and Caravan participants which was held in December last year have implemented their local initiatives in February and March. The local initiatives were held in Doboj, Banja Luka, Sarajevo, Olovo and Sokolac and the youth from these communities had the opportunity to attend workshop on the subject peace and reconciliation.

After canceling all local youth initiatives planned in March and April because of the state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, CIM staff has worked on a strategy to organize them online. We have held several online meetings with the team members to find a solution and adjust their working agenda to online workshops.

The first online workshop was held by the participants from Jajce, the two-day local youth initiative of Jajce “Peace activism in period of social distance” was organized on April 16th and 17th. During the first day the former Peace camp and caravan participants held a workshop about prejudices and stereotypes. On the second day, youth workers held an interactive workshop about youth activism.

The  next was the two-day local initiative of Velika Kladuša “With knowledge to peace” which was organized on April 18th and 19th via Zoom platform. During these two days 10 youth from Velika Kladuša had the opportunity to learn from the journalist and activist Amir  who is the recipient of a special plaque awarded in the frame of the Journalist Award "Sran Aleksic" for professional reporting in year 2019. The main topic of these workshops was media literacy. The youth defined media literacy as ability and skills to filter a great amount of information and extract the true ones.

On the April 25th and 27th the local initiative of Bijeljina named “Art and peace are not slogans but life” was organized via Zoom platform. In total 20 youth from Bijeljina and Sarajevo attended this activity. On the first day volunteers of PRONI club in Sarajevo, held an interactive workshop about teambuilding. On the second day, a psychology student and volunteers of PRONI youth club from Bijeljina Irena held an interactive workshop about stereotypes and prejudices. Through a survey she explained the definition of stereotypes and prejudice, the differences between them and the examples of them

The local initiative of Stolac called “With art to peace” was held on May 4th via Zoom. First, Davor who is a former Peace camp and caravan participant and an aspiring actor shared his experience and ways of using art in peacebuilding.  Dalila is a lover of fine arts. She showed her art work created during isolation. She emphasized the calming effect art has for her and the importance of finding an activity that makes us relaxed and satisfied. Amar and Adel are independent amateur musicians. They played various songs on a guitar and showed the magical effect of music by connecting people across the country and even region.

Local initiative of Mostar – “Shock seminar” was organized on May 4th via Zoom. The coordinator of PRONI youth club in Mostar held an interactive presentation about I-speech which is way of assertive communication. After this short but useful and concrete topic, a member of a theater group from Mostar spoke about his work and experience by working on peacebuilding in his community. He organized a theater performance which focused on the present division between Croats and Bosniaks living in Mostar. Through his work he wants to emphasize the absurdity of two sites of the city and the on going division, hate and distrust. And the third short presentation was about meditation and yoga, and the benefits she noticed practicing it.

On April 21st the initiative #letstalk from the former Peace camp and caravan participants and the Volunteers club from Sanski Most has officially started. #letstalk is conceived as a platform where youth can talk, discuss and exchange about various topics interesting to them and host guests like activists, athletes, psychologists, actors, musicians. After a survey started on Facebook, the youth choose to talk about books at the first meeting. Milena, a former Peace camp and caravan participant moderated this meeting.

The second meeting of youth – Art in Peacebuilding was held on April 25th. The guest and moderator of this meeting was Davor, a former Peace camp and caravan participant and amateur actor. He spoke about the role of art in peacebuilding. The participants discussed what art means for them and tried to find a definition of art.

For this next meeting the youth invited the director of the association Forgotten children of War Ajna. Although, her name and story are well known for citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, she shared her life experience with the participants. Ajna is a child of a women who was a victim of sexual violence – rape during war 1992-1995. She started to talk about the stigmatization her mother and she as her child were experiencing living in a small community. Her childhood was marked with bullying and rejection of the peers, community and, in her words “whole country”. After she waited over twenty-three years, she decided with other children of sexual violence during conflict to establish the association Forgotten children of War. The mission of this association is to change the mindset of society towards victims of sexual violence, reduce stigmatization and give psychological, social and legally support.

After Ajna, Larisa was the guest on the #letstalk platform. Larisa is a 29 year- old Bosnian judoka, and most successful Bosnian athlete ever. On the 30th of April, 12 young people talked to Larisa about the position of sports in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the role of sports in society in general. During the 60-minute conversation, young people asked questions such as: "How to motivate young people to do professional sports?", "What does a professional athlete's day look like?", "How does sport help to overcome problems in society?" etc.

Let’s talk with Amel was held on May 7th via Zoom. Amel is a Bosnian athlete. He is currently the most trophy athlete in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His disciplines are short and medium track, and in these disciplines, he has set two national records and numerous European records. Looking at his successful career he emphasized the importance of one thing – dedication.

On May 12th, we organized another #letstalk meeting and on this occasion talked with youth about tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Milena, a former Peace camp and caravan participant moderated this meeting. First the participants talked about their willingness to travel around Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many of the youth haven’t visited or explored their home country.

#letstalk about movies and serials was held on 29th of May. Fatima who was a participant of Dialogue facilitation seminar moderated this meeting. Ten participants decided to spend their time by sharing their favourite movies and serials. Fatima prepared a presentation of the best movies and serials of 21st century based on the reviews of BBC and the Guardian.

On the fifth of June the former Peace camp and caravan participants hosted Uroš, an actor and youth activist from Novi Sad, Serbia. Davor  moderated this meeting. Uroš introduced himself and his work from the beginning in the area of acting. Uroš presented the work of a theater group “Teatarnova” a project which enables youth to express themselves through theater. In the second part of the meeting he asked the participants to actively participate in reading and acting in a dialogue.

After the decision of separating Peace camp and caravan, CIM has published the call for participants for the Peace camp which will be organized in the period of June 26th till July 3rd. The call was officially published on CIM’s Facebook page on 8th of June.

We want to thank everyone who has been helping and following our work during the pandemic.  We wish you all who is reading this health and safety during this time, and don’t get unmotivated because our youth showed us that they you can do a lot of great work online too.

First of all, we want to wish you all a happy new year full of joyfulness, health and peace.

Center for Peacebuilding has organized from 1st till the 14th of December the second Peace Camp and Caravan. 25 young people from 10 municipalities/cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina were participants of the camp which was held at the Jahorina mountain in Sarajevo. This was an oppurtunity to gain peacebuilding experience, connect with other youth and see different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In Febuary, March and April participants are tasked with organizing their own peace initiatives in their local communities. On the 8th Febuary our participants from Doboj implemented the first local initative called ''World's week of interreligious harmony'' where they implemented a few activities : distribution of flyers with peace messages, a peace match in volleyball and also a workshop with the title ''There is no way to peace. The way is Peace.'' and a presentation on educational work in ethnically and religiously heterogeneous groups. 

We can't wait for the rest of the activities which the youth of the Peace Camp and Caravan have invented. Waiting for us are many workshops on the theme peacebuilding, arts and also exchange of young people from different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Also Center for Peacebuilding has organized in December, The Advanced level seminar of dialogue Facilitation. The seminars trainers were director Vahidin Omanovic and Dr. Paula Green. Seminar participants were volunteers of our organisation and also employees of our partner organisations in the project STaR.

We want to thank everyone who helps us educate young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina about the importance of preserving peace and coexistence. 
 
Peace and Love 
 
CIM Team 

This year Center for Peacebuilding organized an event called Peace Fest as a part of the celebration of the 10th International Peace Week. The opening ceremony was on the 16th of September at the CIM’s Peace Farm also called Garden of Oppurtunities.

On that occasion, the Mayor of Sanski Most and CIM’s founders addressed the attendees: Executive Director Vahidin Omanovic and Program Director Mevludin Rahmanovic, who this year presented awards for Ambassadors of Peace, Volunteers of the Year, and Donors of the Year.

On the 17th of September we started with our lectures on the Garden of Possibilities within the manifestation of the Peace Fest. Amra Pandzo gave a lecture on the concept of peacebuilding, Judge Patricia Whalen spoke about the importance and role of justice in reconciliation processes while former concetration camp prisoners who are a part of the PRO- Buducnost project shared their war experiences with the participants.

After the lecture, participants were shown a documentary called The Prosecutors, facilitated by Karen Blanchard.

On the 18th of September we continued with our lectures. Karen Blanchard gave a lecture on forgiveness and the participants presented in a creative way what forgiveness represented to them.
Louis Monroy spoke about the difference between traditional and transitional justice, and brought the definition and details of transitional justice closer to our participants.
Zoka Catic intrigued the participants with an interesting lecture on the influence and responsibility of the media and their personal responsibility when posting content on social networks. He also presented his work and short films that carry messages of peace and encourage viewers to think critically.

We also the lecture in two middle schools in Sanski Most where John Sturtz worked with teacher, how they can develop learning children and critical thinking. And our employee Anela Talic and volunteer Armin Poljak were talking with the students about Youth activism and what Young people need in their local community.

On Thursday the 19th of September, Sylvia Laumen, Daniel Eror and Amra Pandzo spoke about the importance of interreligious dialogue in peace building and the importance of religion for the individual.
Participants were particularly interested in showing short films, which is why Zoka Catic showed them 3 additional films and invited them to critically review what the “media is serving”.

 Daniel Eror and Emina Frljak, representatives of Youth for Peace organisation, gave an interactive lecture on “What can we do?”
In an interesting way, they conveyed knowledge to the participants about the individual’s activism and contribution to social change. They also emphasized their personal responsibility in initiating change.
At CIM’s Garden of Opportunities we have continued to discuss this topic. Mevludin Rahmanovic and Vahidin Omanovic conducted a dialogue session during which participants identified what they could do and also evaluated the lessons learned.

On the last day of our Peace Fest on the 21st September we celebrated the International Peace day. CIM’s theater ”Life” where they performed a play called ”Ashamed of the mother”. After the theater play our small actors and participants had the oppurtunity to draw and make the Peace wall which in the end was really colorfull and big.

In September and October our Peace Camp and Caravan participants have implemented their local initiatives in 10 cities/municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina : Velika Kladuša, Banja Luka, Jajce, Olovo, Sarajevo, Sokolac, Bijeljina, Mostar and Stolac. Local initiative were workshops about peacebuilding and youth activism where young people could learn more about, and hear experience from our participants about their peacebuilding work and also about the Peace camp and Caravan experience.

For the end of the year, Center for Peacebuilding is organizing a second Peace camp and Caravan for young people from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the mountain Jahorina,  this will be an opportunity to gain peacebuilding experience, connect with other youth and see different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We want to thank everyone who helps us educate young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina about the importance of preserving peace and coexistence. 
 
Peace and Love 
 
CIM Team 

Our summer was pretty busy, but we are glad of how many young people have gone through our education this summer and where we have developed a real activist spirit in them.

In the period from June 21st to June 27th, the youth from Bihac, Cazin, Velika Kladusa, Buzim and Bosanska Krupa took part in the Peace. Peace training for youth is one of the activities of the project “Building local capacities for peace in the Krajina”, which is being implemented within the BHRI program. The Peace training was held at the CIM’s “Garden of Opportunities”, and young people, besides socializing and getting acquainted, had the opportunity to learn about identity, conflict resolution, peace building and reconciliation. Some of the things they learned, which, in the continuation of this project, will be able and practical to apply after returning to their local communities are: youth activism, changes that they want to see in their community, concrete steps towards change. Upon completing the Peace Training, in July and August the participants had a budget to organize initiatives in their local communities. They organized camps, workshops for young people from all around Krajina, history lessons and much more.

Center for Peacebuildung has organized from 8th to 13th of July a Peace Camp. 24 young people from 10 municipalities/cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina were participants of the camp we held on CIM’s Peace Farm (Garden of Opportunities) in Sanski Most.

For our educational part of the Peace camp which were workshops who were based on identities, prejudices, stereotypes as well as peacebuilding and resources in our local communities that we need for our future peace activities. The workshops were held by CIM’s directors with the help of our external associates. They talked and learned in an experiential way about the differences between debate and dialogue. The participants became aware of the advantages of leading a dialogue and the importance of its use in conflicting, but also in everyday situations.

For the working part at the Peace camp the participants had the opportunity to clean around the farm, work in the garden and forest, and building a park in the forest.

The camp has encouraged many new ideas for future peace activities and we can proudly say that it was more than successful.

CIM Peace Camp and Caravan completed on July 19th in Jajce. After a seven-day Peace Camp, they traveled together for 5 days through the cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During this trip, they visited historical and cultural sites, became acquainted with the problems faced by young people in particular communities, and ways to address them by local activists, peacekeepers and drivers of change.

It was a busy summer, but it is still not the end. In september we are organizing a Peace fest for people all around Bosnia and Herzegovina. And in October the participants of the Peace camp and Caravan are doing their initiatives in their local communities.

We want to thank everyone who helps us educate young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina about the importance of preserving peace and coexistence. 
 
Peace and Love 
 
CIM Team 

Spring has passed in a very working mood with many activities.We had guests from a youth organization from Gradiška, we had a meeting with them and we presented one to another activities and the work of the organizations. After the meeting we had socializing at the farm where we also showed the work and concept of the farm. Our volunteers were happy to meet young people from another town and also show their work and also give advice on how to develop their ideas. 

On March, a group of Polish high school students from Torun visited CIM's "Garden of Opportunities." This visit had a tourist-cultural character with the aim of introducing Bosnian youth, non-governmental organizations and their work. During the visit of the "Garden of Oppurtunities" students from Poland and our Volunteers club had the opportunity to participate in a workshop and lecture on the importance of dialogue, respect and respect for the other and the different, and work on peacebuilding, both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and wider. 

In Sarajevo we organized a training Dialogue Fascilitation which we are implementing as part of  a project called STaR (Societal Transformation and Reconciliation). Participants were young people from all around Bosnia and learned interactively about what dialogue is, what are it's advantages, and the differences between debates and dialogues.  

Summer is slowly coming and our big events are approaching. Our Peace camps and Peace caravans are sheduled in june and july. Applications are slowly arriving from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We are very much looking forward to our events. Peace Camps 2019 is looking great, and the entire CIM team is very excited.  

We want to thank everyone who helps us educate young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina about the importance of preserving peace and coexistence. 
 
Peace and Love 
 
CIM Team