Sponsor Bosnian-Herzegovinian youth to build peace

On behalf of everyone here at Center for Peacebuilding we would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a fantastic New Year. 2017 was extremely productive for us, all thanks to you and your generous donations. In 2018 we will continue to build peace for all of us and build a better world for future generations.

After our Peace camp in August several participants came back in Sanski Most to attent various peace-building lectures and workshops that we held within our 8th International Peace Week in September.

One of them launched the Ecumenical Initiative through which she wants to bring together religious leaders in her community to work together and to be an example of good practice where religious leaders contribute to peace building in BiH.

Inspired by the Peace Camp, a large number of participants wanted to do more for peace in our country so they have decided to join local organizations or initiatives who are doing peace activities.

Participants of this year's camp spread their impressions from the Peace Camp among their friends and colleagues so we already have new interested participants for the Peace Camp in 2018.

We will keep you informed about the progress of our project participants in their own communities. We would like to say a massive, sincere thank you for all of your support in 2017. Your generous donations have helped us continue our work, and now CIM is growing into an internationally renouned organisation.

Once again, we wish you a nice and relaxed end of the year, and all the best for 2018.

Hello All!

We at the Center for Peacebuilding hope you have had a wonderful summer. We sure did!
Summer has always been our busiest time of the year, we've spent it working, preparing and having fun also.
In August the Center organized its thirteenth Peace Camp!

25 young people from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina were participants of the camp we held on CIM’s Peace Farm (Garden of Opportunities) in Sanski Most.

This year’s Peace Camp was different from the previous ones, because besides the educational workshops led by CIM’s directors, together with our regional coordinators, it had a working part. This meant that the participants divided into groups worked on the arrangement of our Peace Farm, cleaning the garbage, destroying the harmful ambrosia, making an outside toilet, cleaning a part of the forest where they made a table and benches.

In the evening young people gathered around the bonfire where they sang songs of different traditions and got to know each other better.

The educational part involved workshops on identities, prejudices, stereotypes as well as peacebuilding and resources in our local communities that we need for our future peace activities. Our participants also learned about the cauncil, a method used in peacebuilding. This activity involved participants learning how to speak openly and listening to each other with no judgment or interruption.

Through work and socializing, participants slowly shattered the prejudices they had about others that are different from them.

The youth once again showed that they are for peace and reconciliation, that they do not see differences among themselves as something that should keep them apart but as something that they need to learn from each other. Regardless of their different backgrounds, they realized that there are a lot more of things that connect them than things that separate them.

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

Peace and Love,

The entire CIM Team