Sponsor Bosnian-Herzegovinian youth to build peace

Since the situation with COVID-19 has made big changes in everyone lifes, we have tried to work on our Peace farm during and outside of our activities because in spite of all the things we cannot do in this situation we still have many things we can change and develop.

We were very pleased with the amount of vegetables and fruits with which the garden made us happy this year. We were able to sell some of the products to our local people in Sanski Most and the rest we were using to give to the people which were helping in seeding all of those seeds.

Even with the situation which surrounds us, we were able to organize many camps and educations at the Peace Farm during the summer time. Within the STaR project we organized two Peace Camp, a Training for Trainers and a Retreat program for all the youth participants from our Peace Camps. We also started about youth activism with the youth from the Krajina region and we were able to implement one training at the Peace Farm.

In every of these trainings and camps we organized teambuilding activities where we all together did work at the farm such as: cleaning the forest, making the a fireplace, cleaning the garden and picking up all the seeds, cleaning the area around the farm to be ready for future construction.

We feel really blessed also to announce that we made our first building at the Peace Farm which will be used as a work place such a space for workshops and for relaxing filled with various social games.

We hope that you all safe and healthy, and we would like to proudly show you our work in the last four months.

With respecting all epidemiological measures set by the Crisis Headquarters Center for Peacebuilding managed to organize six major activities as part of various projects.

First Peace Camp

From the 26th of June till the 4th of July, 25 Young people from 10 municipalities from Bosnia Herzegovina attended the seven-day long Peace Camp 2020 within the STaR project at CIM's Peace Farm. Young people from all around Bosnia and Herzegovina had the opportunity to listen and learn about topics and themes as identities, prejudices, stereotypes, nonviolent conflict resolution and more.In the second part of the day participants had teambuilding activities at the Peace Farm where they together had the chance to make together a fireplace, clean the forest and enjoy our permaculture garden and also they also helped us to maintain it with mulching and hoeing the garden. We also showed participants the center of Sanski Most, they had the opportunity to hear historical stories and anecdotes about this City. Also we introduced to our participants the beauties of the City. We visited the two most touristic attractions and most visited places in Sanski Most, Waterfall Bliha and Bobijaško oko. On the last two days of the Peace Camp, participants together planned local initiatives with will be implemented in their local communities.

Local youth initiatives

In July and August 10 local initiatives were organized in the local communities within the STaR project.

Our first local initiative was held on the 26th of July in Sokolac. At the activitiy participants had the chance with our directors from CIM Vahidin and Mevludin to learn more about prejudices and dialogue, as well as ways and rules of how to conduct a proper diagloue. Our second local initiative was implemented in Olovo. Our Peace Camp participants organized the activity in the Sports Center on the 27th of July. Young people from Olovo gained insight into the proper consideration and overcoming of prejudices, how to gain new knowledge and verified information in a peaceful way, ie through conversation. The third local initiative was held in Bijeljina entitled "Prevent misunderstanding, choose a photo and words". Participants had the opportunity to participate in a discussion on peace activism and post-war events in BiH. This was followed by a workshop on "Hate speech and the spread of nationalism on the Internet." Why it is important to communicate in the form of dialogue, our participants have recognized during the recent held Peace Camp and decided that non-violent communication should be the topic of their local initiative in Banja Luka! In addition to the workshop on the benefits of dialogue, a lecture on assertive communication was held, led by a psychologist and participant of the second Peace Camp. On the 6^th of August a local initiative was held in Doboj called "A Step for Peace".
The activities were attended by young people from Doboj, and as part of this activity they visited four religious buildings, the Orthodox Church, mosque, synagogue and Catholic- church where they learned about the history of these buildings and the religious rites performed in them. The activity continued in the American Corner, where they hosted young peacebuilders and led discussions on a variety of topics from activism to peace building. On the 7th of august in Velika Kladuša, in the premises of the Alternative House of Culture, one of the local initiatives was held, participants of the local initiative had the opportunity to discuss extracurricular activities, competitions, improvement of the education system, the benefits of non-formal education as well as opportunities for personal growth and development. On the 8th of August, one of the local initiatives called "RestArt" was held in Jajce and implemented by our participants. Participants had the opportunity to learn about arts and peace building and how to connect the two areas. On the 17th of August, the 8th local initiative was successfully implemented in Sarajevo, they talked about the work of Center for Peacebuilding, the STaR project and the activities that follow. However, the central theme of this activity is the position of migrants in the capital of BiH, but also beyond, their experience and the path from leaving their country to arriving in a safe area. A local initiative of participants from Mostar called "Enigma" was held on the 18^th of August in the premises of the PRONI youth club. We discussed the importance of peace building projects, the possibilities of involvement in them, and held workshops on prejudice and the role of identity in the peace building process. On the 19^th of August in Stolac, the last initiative called "Through prejudice to freedom" was successfully held. Participants had the opportunity to meet and talk about the current problems of today. Young people talked in a pleasant atmosphere about prejudices and ways to overcome them.

Training for Trainers

Participants had the opportunity to meet and talk about the current problems of today in a fun way. Young people from Stolac talked in a pleasant atmosphere about prejudices and ways to overcome them. Our participants learned about the design and implementation of workshops and in the coming days they had the opportunity to lead workshops independently which themes were: identities, prejudices and steretypes, peacebuilding, faciliation of dialogue and a lot of more. Since CIM is planing on organising an event for all our Peace Camp and Caravan participants, we were making a design of which activities and workshops our Trainers will be doing on the Retreat. The afternoon time of the ToT was for the teambuilding activities such as playing volleyball, making an Instagram wall for taking pictures, and also working in the garden where our participants showed a lot of team work and helping each other in every situation.

Second Peace Camp

From the 29^th of August till the 6^th of September the Second Peace Camp was held within the STaR project at the CIM’s Peace Farm. 20 young people from 10 municipalities from Bosnia and Herzegovina attended the second Peace Camp. For our educational part of the Peace camp which were workshops who were based on identities, prejudices, stereotypes as well as peace building and resources in our local communities that we need for our future peace activities. The workshops were held by CIM’s directors. 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.
The camp has encouraged many new ideas for future peace activities and we can proudly say that it was more than successful.

Youth Regroup! Youth for Youth in Krajina.

With the first training held in the period from 6th to 11th September, Center for Peacebuilding officially started implementing the Youth regroup! Youth for youth in Krajina project. Through this project we want to increase the involvement of young people in advocating for their needs and interests, and develop the necessary skills and knowledge to lead local initiatives in their communities. The project covers 7 municipalities / cities in the Krajina region: Bihac, Buzim, Bosanska Krupa, Kljuc, Sanski Most, Prijedor and Novi Grad. After a total of 3 trainings, youth from these municipalities will become youth leaders who will initiate social changes in their local communities, advocate for the interests of young people and coordinate the activities of youth clubs that will be established during the project. On Friday, the 11th of September, finished the first training within the Youth regroup! Youth for youth in Krajina project implemented by the Center for Peacebuilding.
The training was attended by 22 young people from 7 municipalities covered by the project: Bihac, Buzim, Bosanska Krupa, Kljuc, Sanski Most, Prijedor and Novi Grad. The goal of the first training is to increase the level of self-awareness, create space for self-awareness, and learn and raise awareness of prejudices so that participants acquire the skills of an objective approach to different groups of people. During the training, young people learned about the importance of identity, the consequences of prejudice and stereotypes, the concept of peacebuilding, and dialogue skills as one of the most important tools in the field of peacebuilding and non-violent conflict resolution.

RETREAT Program

In order to celebrate CIM's 11th International Peace Week, Center for Peacebuilding organized a programe called Retreat within the STaR project (Societal Transformation and Reconciliation) where a series of activities took place between 16th and 22nd September. The Retreat was attended by participants of the Peace camps and caravans, all young peacebuilders who participated in local initiatives of the Peace camp participants, as well as those who wanted to network and socially with youth from different areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Trainers who participated in the Training for Trainers and prepared their workshops for this event in those days had the opportunity to implement their workshops. Most of the workshops were creative and they were also preparing different things to present for the International Peace Day.

The workshops which were held at the Retreat program are:

1) Peacebook, this workshop will have three main activities. The first one is making a Peacebook which is conceived as an album with photos and stories of trainers and participants of CIM’s RETREAT, through which we would present their peace journey. At the second activity participants will have the opportunity to learn the basics of photography and transfer what they have learned by documenting the entire Retreat program through images. And in the third and last one participants will in a fun and creative way create an Instagram frame called PEACEgram and learn how to make memes.

2) Storytelling, in this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to learn about verbal and non-verbal communication techniques, breathing techniques, and how they can develop their communication skills.

3) Peace monument, making a peace monument which will represent the STaR project at the Farm which will be presented on the International day of Peace and to leave a mark for future generations.

4) Foodology, where they will be preparing and making food for the Peace day.

5) Time capsule, where trainers and organizers will be able through the whole Retreat write letters, peace messages which will be put in the time capsule and buried.

6) CIM's Peace Games, which will be held at the International Peace day. The activity will consist of 6 games in which all Retreat participants will be able to participate. Participation is on a voluntary basis. The goal of these games is to get to know the participants better, have fun and develop creativity.

7) Peace in verse, the aim of the activity is understanding the thesis of art without borders, ie accepting literature as a general, universal cultural good of humanity; self-reflection through consideration of offered literary texts; sharing personal feelings and experiences; fostering compassion and empathy.

UPGRADE FOR PEACE

Upgrade for Peace is an advanced seminar in the field of peacebuilding and conflict transformation that was implemented from 1st to 6th October 2020.
The training was attended by 20 participants from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina who already have experience with peacebuilding and were previous participants in seminars or camps of Center for Peacebuilding.
Participants had the opportunity to learn about re-examining themselves and their intentions, pillars of peace work, the model of Circles of Revenge and Trust and through exercises learned about the steps that lead them to forgiveness and how to get out of the circle of revenge and reach reconciliation. Participants also participated in creating concepts for creating youth activities in their local communities.
Participants demonstrated their teamwork through teambuilding activities which is also an important part in peace building. The Upgrade for Peace was implemented with the financial support of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.