The fourth Peacebuilding Training for students from Bosnia and Herzegovina was held from 22 to 28 July on Mount Vlašić. Twenty students of various social and cultural backgrounds and from local communities across the whole of BiH participated in the training.
Unfortunately, due to cancellations, as well as a smaller number of applications (67 in total), we did not have participants from areas where the Croat context is dominant. This shortcoming presented a difficulty for us due to the importance of ethnic identities in our country. Additionally, ethnicity-based group mechanisms are among the strongest factors influencing social dynamics in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Of course, the ethnic dimension is not the only one, but in our context, neglecting this factor would mean taking a step backwards according to our value standards. A representative group is also important because it ensures group diversity.
Among the participants, we had future lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects, economists, political scientists, as well as future graduates in the humanities from universities in Sarajevo, Istočno Sarajevo, Bihać, Zenica, Tuzla, Bijeljina and Banja Luka.
In terms of gender distribution, there were 12 women and 8 men.
Organising the training in the midst of pandemic uncertainty was by no means an easy task. First, we couldn’t be sure that the training would be held at all, there was always the possibility of cancellation, and it was also important for us to ensure we could protect people from risks of infection and complications from the virus during the training.
Still, given the importance of this programme and the potential of this generation of future highly educated individuals and decision-makers to effect changes in our communities, we decided that holding the training, while maintaining all precautionary measures, was possible and doable and that it was important to have this round of training this year.
The Courage and Openness of Twenty-Year-Olds
The start of the training was reserved for getting to know each other and topics relevant to this, including communication and teamwork.
Right from the start, the participants demonstrated a surprising level of openness and courage in sharing personal and powerful stories about how their lived experiences had shaped them with a group of 20 strangers. The strong group dynamics among these young people that had just met each other continued throughout our sessions on communication, and especially the one on teamwork, where the participants recognised the importance and potential benefits of cooperation and teamwork in everything they do, including in the area of peacebuilding, which was the focus of this non-formal training. An important part of the training, according to impressions from the participants as well as the team of trainers, was the one dealing with identities and what they mean to us in our daily lives. For the first time (according to their words from the workshops and evaluation), the participants had an opportunity to openly talk about what shapes them and defines them in relation to others, but also to see how identity mechanisms classify other people and what consequences this has.
Thinking about this, as well as the freedom to think “outside the box” are one of the basic mechanisms for change that enable us to be liberated from what is taken for granted and is often called heritage or tradition, but negatively impacts others and leads to prejudice and discrimination.
Fear of Imposed Responsibility
The central part of the training deals with our common violent past and everything it implies. Although the team of trainers had misgivings about these young people being receptive to these topics, thinking they were too remote for them and that, given their average age of 20, discussing topics of war would seem like an imposed responsibility, it turned out our fears were unfounded. We found that even though these were people born after the war, both the visible and invisible consequences of the war were ever-present in their lives and they were prepared to think about them profoundly and constructively. What is more, the level at which they discussed the war and the amount of space they gave each other, with no self-censoring, was a huge step forward compared to how these topics are treated in the public arena and in Bosnian-Herzegovinian society. Their freedom and openness tell us that changes are happening and that they are partly owing to the fact that these young people are not burdened by direct memories of the war. Most of the group welcomed a safe space for having conversations, expressing opposing opinions, sharing experiences and attitudes, and used it not just to say something, but also to listen to others. This space of openness was maintained not just during the workshops, but also during informal free time, and it is an important element of the training. Additionally, the dynamics of openness are key for understanding the needs, experiences, fears and grievances of others. This type of safe and open space is also important for developing personal mechanisms to deal with disagreement and difference and to resolve conflicts.
Unfortunately, the openness in discussing the past and the war was not accepted by all participants and because of something that was said during the workshops, two participants decided to leave the training. But this too is a reality of our daily work with these topics, and in this particular case, it was useful to see how we can and must deal with decisions to ignore and run away from our common wartime past. The choice to leave a space that is open for conversation, to say nothing, but to have the act of leaving send a message to others is a personal decision that neither the team of trainers nor the group could influence at the time.
We were disappointed, but then also encouraged by the feedback from the group about how much they liked the interactive method and that for most of the participants, this was the first time they had a genuine sense that their opinions were important, that what they were saying was being listened to and understood. As far as we can see, for twenty years already, society has been shaping this generation in the ex cathedra style (be quiet-listen-reproduce), alienating them completely from critical thinking, from using their own heads and from personal initiative. We have to ask ourselves, how is our education system treating future members of our communities, how is it shaping them and where will that actually lead all of us?
War Veterans: If they can do it, then we must
On the fourth day of the training, having covered topics directly related to the war and what would be a fair and just approach to the past in our communities, the group was joined by three war veterans and peace activists: Franjo Grgić (former member of HVO from Bihać), Đoko Pupčević (former member of the Army of Republika Srpska from Šamac) and Adnan Hasanbegović (former member of the Army of BiH from Sarajevo). They shared their experiences with the students and the ways that they engage in peacebuilding. The war-veterans-turned-peace-activists left a strong impression on the participants and we all came out of the workshop feeling empowered and motivated to continue our peace work, because if former enemies can do it, then we must, as one of the participants said.
We finished the training with topics related to peacebuilding and nonviolent action and exchanged ideas about how each of us can build peace in our own immediate community. We also touched upon some concrete examples of things we can all do and concluded that peacebuilding was actually made up of a multitude of small steps and small cogs that work together to move us towards change and a better and more just tomorrow.
The importance of this programme is reflected in the vast potential for change that this generation possesses, especially given the fact that they are still in their formative years and this is precisely the moment when being sensitised to others and their opinions and attitudes leaves a lasting impression. One of the expectations of the training team prior to the training was sensitisation and we can say that we have come out of the training with this expectation not just fulfilled, but exceeded, especially when it comes to sensitisation for our common wartime past and the visible and invisible consequences of war. This was the first time that the participants encountered these topics in this manner, where they had agency in dealing with them, instead of being passive listeners, and they truly gave each other room to be heard and understood.
Youth in our societies is still not too young only in wars.
We were particularly struck by this social phenomenon where the generation of twenty-somethings is considered too young to speak about the war and deal with the past. They are thus deprived of the possibility to take responsibility for social change, and yet at the same time, we know that it was precisely the twenty-somethings that carried the war on their shoulders, along with the wounds it inflicted and commands and everything that war entails. It seems that youth in our societies is still not too young only in wars.
All of this leads us to the conclusion that it definitely makes sense to work on social change with this specific group of people. After four student trainings to date, we can say that we have seen real progress with this group, as some of the former training participants have already started ushering in positive changes in society.
The team of trainers was made up of Tamara Zrnović, Nedžad Novalić, Katarina Milićević and Dalmir Mišković.
You can see the gallery of photos from the training HERE.