Since 1997, we have developed several training programmes. Lately we organise the following:
BASIC TRAINING IN PEACEBUILDING
WHAT IS TRAINING?
CNA Training in peacebuilding is a ten-day programme for peace education. It gathers people from the region of former Yugoslavia (more precisely, from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo). Special attention is given to direct contacts and communication between people from different regions, supporting the processes of prejudice reduction, mutual trust building and constructive dealing with the past. Through this programme CNA longs for a model of active citizens, who are ready, skilled and aware of own responsibility, power and strength to influence the society they live in; and who, mainly, have sense of responsibility for society and social processes.
This programme opens questions relevant for dealing with conflicts, making the space for searching for creative ways of conflict transformation and development of the skills needed for a successful transformation process. It does not offer recipes and ready models for conflict solutions.
CNA training includes:
development of the sensibility for different kinds of violence and discrimination
development of the sensibility for mechanisms and dynamics of conflict arising
opening the key questions relevant for the field of dealing with the past
the development of team or group working skills
encouraging the process of trust building, prejudice reducation and the development of tolerance for diversities
approach to a conflict as a chance for change and acquiring new experiences and knowledge
Working language is Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian.
The group of participants consists of maximum 20 persons with different backgrounds (ethnical, religious, national, etc.) who come from different countries/regions of former Yugoslavia named above, active in: political parties, NGOs, veteran associations, media, education… We are putting effort into forming a gender and age balanced group.
Preconditions for participation:
age over 21
high motivation for work on the topics
good quality of application questionnaire
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Themes worked out on an average basic training are: violence, understanding of conflict, communication, team work and decision making, creative conflict transformation, gender, national identity, prejudice, dealing with the past, etc. The programme is flexible in the sense that it follows the work and needs of the group, so work on certain topics depends on need for them to be covered.
Methods used on CNA training are of active and participative, “workshop” character. This approach comes from our standpoint, that differences enrich us, and help us to develop understanding and hence influences our behaviour in conflict situations. Creativity, sensibility and communication skills enable us to communicate and to approach conflict situation in a constructive way.
These methods long to learning through experience, they demand active involvement of participants on intellectual and emotional level.
If you are interested to participate on one of the CNA trainings:
The invitation letter is published approximately 6 weeks before the training. You may find it on this page, but in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language.
ADVANCED TRAINING IN PEACEBUILDING
Advanced training in peacebuilding is a programme of further peace education that represents continuation of Basic training in peacebuilding. This programme is for people who participated in a Basic training and who have high motivation for further peace education. An important dimension of this programme is further learning, searching, discovering, deliberating, rethinking and exchange of experiences and knowledge about many other activities and approaches to peacebuilding and dealing with the past, besides training work. The programme has undergone adjustment and latest version of it is called Peace indepth, consisting of three week-long modules.
Since 2003, every year we organize a peace education programme for ex-combatants – persons who actively participated in wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in different armies. We developed this programme when we became aware of the high motivation of a number of war veterans for participation in peacebuilding and dealing with the past processes, and also of the great potential that they have for these processes.
The goals of this programme are:
Creating space and motivating and encouraging war veterans for dialogue with the people who participated in the wars on an opposite side;
Raising awareness for different kinds of violence and creating space for deliberation and rethinking of personal and collective responsibility for wars and post-war violence in the society;
Empowering war veterans for active participation in peacebuilding work, dealing with the past process and cross-border cooperation.
The programme encompasses: critical review of current public attitude towards war in different countries, raising awareness and sensitivity for violence and prejudices in society, trust building, exchange of views on the role of national and ethnic identities, mapping the obstacles and opportunities for reconciliation, but also many other topics that the trainees express interest for, and whose focus is peacebuilding and dealing with the past.
More information about this programme is available in our regular reports.
PROGRAMME TRAINING FOR TRAINERS
IN NONVIOLENT CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION
The Training for trainers programme is developed due to the need for widening capacities for training work. Up to now we implemented 6 programmes (1998-1999, 2000, 2001, 2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2014). The first three programmes consisted of five phases and were omplemented in the period of 6 months. After that experience and extensive evaluations we refreshed the concept and included three more phases. Training for Trainers, in 2014, had four phases.
Since 2005 we developed and introduced Advanced training instead, due to the need to focus on other types of peace work as well.
The idea for the “Introduction to Peacebuliding” training came out of the need to pay special attention to understanding the context of Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia, as well as to create a space for comprehending and countering stereotypes, understanding conflicts, and establishing a foundation for further cooperation in peacebuilding despite language barriers. The training was conceived of at the last Training for Trainers, held in 2014. Since 2015, one Mir-Paqe-Мир training has been held each year.
TRAINING FOR STUDENTS FROM BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
We identified the need for this type of peace education geared at students from Bosnia and Herzegovina for the first time in 2015, when we organised the first peacebuilding training for students from BiH in cooperation with the participants of our Training for Trainers, which was held in 2014. The idea was to provide a peacebuilding foundation for the development of the future generation of public opinion and policy makers and give them an opportunity to view the Bosnian-Herzegovinian context more broadly and develop sensitivity for others and those who are different.
