Annual Report 1997-1998 / I

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Centar za nenasilnu akciju Bentbaša 31, 71000 Sarajevo, BiH Tel/Fax:+387/71/442 011 cna@bih.net.ba         CENTAR ZA NENASILNU AKCIJU Annual report September 1997 – August 1998     Centar za nenasilnu akciju – CNA is the project office of… ...
15. December 1998
15. December 1998

Centar za nenasilnu akciju

Bentbaša 31, 71000 Sarajevo, BiH

Tel/Fax:+387/71/442 011

cna@bih.net.ba

 

 

 

 

CENTAR ZA NENASILNU AKCIJU

Annual report

September 1997 – August 1998

 

 

Centar za nenasilnu akciju – CNA is the project office of The Center for Education and Networking in Nonviolent Action -KURVE Wustrow, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The project started in September 1997.

The main objectives of the project are training in nonviolent conflict resolution, networking and advisory activities.

Our aim is to support and induce local training structures in BiH.

At the moment CNA staffs one volunteer as trainer and coordinator of the project.

CNA is a registered NGO in BiH, as an external branch of KURVE Wustrow.

 

Table of contents

1 Introduction page 3

2 Major activities

2.1. 1st Quarter page 3

2.2. 2nd Quarter page 6

2.3. 3rd Quarter page 8

2.4. 4th Quarter page 9

3 Cooperation page10

4 Goals page 13

5 Strategy page 13

6 Perspectives page 14

7 Difficulties page 15

8 Political dimension of CNA work page 16

9 Evaluation, summary page 17

10 Work plan page 18

11 Acknowledgements page 20

 

1. INTRODUCTION

 

Although the idea for this project is almost two years old, this is the first annual report of the work in the field. The CNA volunteer arrived in Sarajevo on 5th September 1997.

This report partly consists of excerpts from the regular public 3 month reports of CNA. Apart from major activities and presentation of the strategy it contains a critical overview of our own project setting and organisational difficulties, that we had and have to cope with.

The evaluation at the end of this report summarises CNA’s general view at the overall state of the project and it’s perspectives. I acknowledge the fact that it is difficult for a volunteer that worked alone in the field for one year, to present an objective evaluation of his own, my own, work. Nevertheless, an effort has been made to write this report in an honest and critical manner.

 

2. MAJOR ACTIVITIES

 

(2.1) 1st Quarter, September – November 1997

The first 3 months was the exploratory phase of work in the field. Many contacts were made, information gathered and potential cooperation partners searched for. Our project partner, a local NGO from sarajevo proved to have no capacity to engage in training work, so we undertook research into a change of strategy. Hagen Berndt of KURVE Wustrow made an early project visit in October 1997, where we discussed the present situation and future plans.

Based on the 3 month report which covers this period a new strategy has been developed. An independent project office (CNA) in Sarajevo was founded and officially registered a couple of months later.

The main task during these months was an assessment of the needs of local NGOs and the analysis of an overall situation, in view of our capacities and interests.

 

Assessment of needs, interests and capacities of local NGOs

(an excerpt from the first 3 months report, Sep – Dec 97)

Most of the groups which expressed interest in training work, or are already involved in it, name financing as their major problem. Most of them also have an interest in further education and experience exchange. Structural problems and lack of experience in organisation is definitely a huge problem. These difficulties are not surprising in view of the fact that the NGO community in BiH is only a few years old.

Very few well developed local groups are capable of meeting the demands of large sponsors, and feel overpowered with them. There is a clear lack of strategy, evaluation and analysis in their work. Local individuals and groups suffer from a lack of initiative. This is the result of helplessness, a feeling imposed on them during the war. In their bad financial situation groups easily slip into competition with each other for the limited money pots, instead of cooperating and working on long term programmes and projects. This lack of vision is wide spread in BiH, as opposed to e.g. Anti Ratna Kampanja (Anti War Campaign) in Croatia.

Another tendency/habit of small grass roots groups in BiH is to orientate themselves by the guidelines of international sponsors, instead of making their own strategy first and approaching possible sponsors afterwards. Such a state of affairs can lead to an uncritical acceptance of external influences and visions which results in the perception of locals being of minor value compared to the internationals (westerners). Indeed there are large international NGOs and GOs which do not trust locals to be skilled and honest enough to pursue the work themselves.

There are some local people, employees of large international NGOs and GOs, who have received some education in nonviolent conflict resolution from international trainers who visited BiH. But the training participants have done nothing further with it. There is no multiplication of the training, although a positive affect might exist which is limited to the organisational structures themselves (invisible to the outside world). The lack of use of local capacities may happen due to the lack of local initiative, but also as the result of unavailable possibilities to gain trust and take on responsibility within the structures of foreign organisations (the employers).

Many local people are over privileged, have jobs at large international agencies, are well paid and show no initiative themselves. This causes dependency and hence there is no self sustainability of locals secured. Certainly no generalisation can be made on these issues, these are just negative tendencies. CNA has had also very positive experiences with local people working for big international NGOs, being very engaged and open for cooperation.

There are plenty of individuals and groups in BiH which consider violence reduction through training as a very important issue, and are willing to invest their energy for these goals. Their needs usually cover a wide area: money, grant proposal writing, advice on programme development, additional education, contacts, supervision. There are already local NGOs and Networks e.g. hCa youth network and NGO Information and Support Center which are dealing with issues of networking, service and advice, although their capacities do not allow individual support work, apart from legal advice. Both mentioned initiatives work with all NGOs in itÔs widest sense, from rock groups, traditional ethnic groups up to human rights groups.

There is an obvious need for cooperation and support within the spectrum of peace groups. The synergy effect could strengthen them through gathered capacities and skills, enabling experience exchange, a common needs evaluation and strategy development. Through this, local NGOs would reach the role they should have, namely of those who define the guidelines for donors, and who present themselves as the remarkable social and political elements that they actually are.

Based on this assessment the following proposal for midterm and long term strategy was made by CNA in December 1997:

 

Midterm and long term strategy, risks, consequences

(an excerpt from the first 3 months report, Sep – Dec 97)

Midterm strategy – In the first year of work CNA will concentrate on a detailed assessment of needs and possibilities. Analysis will be based on training results. Most of all, CNA will follow itÔs aim to empower and assist locals for independent work and assist qualified local trainers in their needs. The assistance will momentarily not be solely based on training concept development, but will involve assistance on organisational issues. We will try to include, whenever possible, participants and trainers from other countries of the territory of former Yugoslavia. Furthermore international networking will be pursued for local trainers, for the purpose of affirmation of their work. CNA does not have a goal of establishing a training center that organises trainings and then searches for participants, but rather to organise trainings in cooperation with other local and international NGOs designed for specified target groups. We will organise trainings and seminars following the goal of networking and experience exchange, wider then just training work. Themes/areas of particular interest are conscientious objection, gender issues and human rights work. CNA staff is in charge of securing funding for these seminars, exceptionally the head office of KURVE Wustrow takes on single grant proposals. CNA will produce an evaluation report after 6 months and 12 months of work. We will remain open to cooperation with international NGOs and GOs who share our goals and values. CNA understands it’s role as assistance to locals, not as service which would produce the effect of dependency instead of self sustainability.  CNA will individually and selectively (dependent on own capacities) meet requests for supervision by locals and internationals.

Risks – CNA volunteer faces work overload that threatens ability to keep up the basic office functions. One person is by no means optimum staff volume. Time-consuming seminar organisation and fund raising, combined with the need to travel much and meet people, and at the same time needed presence at the office (for daily communication) is a very demanding and challenging task.

There are risks of:

losing space to reflect and evaluate, the necessary precondition for good work

inability to extend present contacts above the limit of information exchange

neglect of work areas

prioritizing communication with KURVE as of lower importance

burn out

failing to secure enough funding

security risk

 

Consequences:

urgent need for a team, additional qualified staff that could act independently

need for more money for the next year, to finance running costs (additional volunteers)

very active exchange between CNA and KURVE

structural changes at KURVE Main Office that could serve enlarged team in Sarajevo

KURVE improvement of: fund raising, public relation work

KURVE internal communication structures improvement, ability to react

quickly on urgent needs of volunteers in BiH

 

Long term strategy

CNA aims no permanent presence/existence in BiH

Yearly evaluations will serve as basis for future strategy settings

CNA sees the necessity to pursue the midterm plan/strategy in the coming 2years

CNA will keep it’s international character through enlargement of team, with qualified and experienced international volunteer

CNA will assess needs, conditions and terms on which the transfer of responsibilities to local staff could be implemented

CNA will analyse own resources and needs in other peace work sectors thentrainings

 

2nd Quarter, December 1997 – February 1998

 

Remark:

The following excerpts contain short information about the trainings conducted by CNA. Detailed reports are available at request, as notified.

(excerpts from the 3 months reports)

 

Trainings

 

10 day Training in Szeged/Hungary, 30.12.97- 10.1.98

On invitation of Schüler helfen Leben, CNA has taken the responsibility to run a 10 day training in nonviolent conflict resolution for a group of 16 participants, during the Winter Camp of SHL in Szeged/Hungary. The group gathered young (average age 24) participants from all parts of BiH and all major ethnicities, who are in different ways engaged or interested in engaging in peace-work in its wide sense. The participants have been invited through contacts of CNA and SHL to different groups, including recommendations of OSCE, who has funded the whole Winter Camp. The trainer team consisted of N.V. (CNA) and Maja Saric (Wings of Hope) with support of Claudia Kukla (Pax Christi – Banja Luka), who was responsible for documentation of the training. The training has been graded as very successful by the trainers team and the participants themselves. A 30 page documentation in English/German/Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian offers detailed information about the  training programme and the course of the training (available through KURVE Wustrow). This training, the first one conducted since the project begin, has given much good energy and initiated cooperation of few local NGOs with CNA and amongst themselves. CNA was invited to run trainings in Bijeljina and Gorazde, offered by local NGOs who wish to organise them, and received further inquiries for advice concerning applicability of methods learned for the daily work of participants (inter-entity meetings moderation).

 

2day Training in Gornji Vakuf, 23-25 January 98

Together with Cvijeta Novakovic from Tuzla’s Center for the culture of peace and nonviolence (Centar za kulturu mira i nenasilja – CKMN), CNA conducted a training for youth of the Bosniak/Croat divided town in central Bosnia Gornji Vakuf/Uskoplje. Despite the announcement of the organiser, the UN Development programme (UNDP), the group has been very young (average 18) and almost strictly Bosniak. In C.N. of CKMN, CNA has found an experienced and reliable partner for the trainer team, which functioned very well. Despite many organisational difficulties, the training was implemented and evaluated by trainers and participants as very successful.

Depressing, tense situation in the town and lack of perspectives for people in G.V., left trainers conclude that there is a great necessity for youth activities in the town, who are left on their own to find entertainment on the street. The Youth Club where the training took place was a meeting point for youth who could play music and meet in a safe place, unfortunately the Club has been closed one month later, due to the lack of finances to keep it running. The documentation of the training is available in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language.

 

Advisory activities

Apart from trainings CNA has been active as a consultant for workshop leading, at request by one participant of the Szeged training. At request by a local NGO from Gorazde, Agency for local democracy initiatives – ALDI, CNA accepted consultancy status in their “Democratic dialogue” initiative, and worked out a programme of 4 weekend trainings in nonviolence, based on information and needs analysis, provided by ALDI.

 

3rd Quarter, March – May 1998

(excerpts from the 3 months reports)

 

2day Training in Neum, 13-15. March 98

CNA and CKMN conducted a one and a half day training in nonviolent communication and team work for the members of the local Youth Network “Nesto vise” (Something more). 20 locals took part in the training held at the tiny town at the Adriatic cost, as the preparation for their meeting where concrete future cooperation should be agreed upon. Further 7 international NGO representatives attended the meeting, including an OSCE representative (funders of the seminar). The training team consisted of 3 persons, including Jasmin Redzepovic a participant of the Hungary training who was in charge of documentation, but also actively took part in the training preparation and evaluation. The trainers were rather dissatisfied with the course of the short training, as the participants hadn’t shown much willingness to bring themselves actively into work. Nevertheless, vast majority of participants rated the training as useful. In the additional meeting day, some of the techniques practised in training have been used, much to the surprise of the training team. The documentation of this training is available in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and English.

 

Participation at the Retreat-Seminar in Sarajevo 27.3. – 2.4.98

gathering participants of the NRW three months course in nonviolent dealing with conflicts (Frille Summer 97) 10 participants, trainer team and the scientific researcher, gathered for a one week meeting in Sarajevo for the purpose of exchanging their experiences gathered in practical work, since the training. The seminar started with controversial discussion about the presence of two people who did not directly participate in the course as trainers or trainees (one of them was a guest trainer), but were in the planning and organising team of the course and had shown interest to take part in the meeting. Despite this unplanned discussion which revealed different tensions among this group of people, a successful exchange has taken place and an opportunity has been given for “field workers” to reflect on their work and problems around it.

The course in Frille has been reevaluated and particularly the lacks of it pointed out, on the background of our practical work. CNA participant had a difficult time to keep up with the seminar and office obligations, which had to be sorted out in the evening hours.

 

26nd April IPPNW – Germany, General Assembly in Hamburg

During the holidays spent in Germany, following an invitation by IPPNW, the CNA representative has, visited the IPPNW GA and given a short speech about the work and answered a few questions concerning the project and its further development.

 

16th May Training in Tuzla

CNA conducted a one day communication training for young representatives of political parties from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Basic techniques of nonviolent communication and exercises on the theme of team work were worked on with a group of 15 participants. Although very short, the training was quite successful and highly interesting. The training was one of the three parallel trainings for the whole group gathering 45 participants of a three day meeting. The other two groups were in trainings conducted by Centar za mir, nenasilje i ljudska prava – Osijek and Centar za kulturu mira i nenasilja – Tuzla. The sponsors of the meeting were USAID, OSCE and NDI (National Democratic Institute). A short report in English is available at request.

 

22-24 th May Follow-up meeting/training in Laktasi

This has been a follow-up meting of the group of participants who attended the training in Szeged at the beginning of the year. Although not all the people could come, it has been a very nice meeting. The group has noticeably preserved trust feeling, which allowed a quick start with the work. A gender workshop was on schedule, apart from updates on each others work and time for arrangements of future cooperation. A report on this meeting is available in English and German. The training was organised in cooperation with Schueler Helfen Leben – Sarajevo and funded by OSCE.

29-31st May Osnabrück Peace Congress

CNA representative was invited for a working group “civilian dealing with conflicts”, has given a talk and was included into a discussion with participants. On one hand this congress served for a presentation of CNA work, on the other hand for networking purposes. CNA established new contacts with colleagues from the region, hoping that these contacts would grow.

 

4th Quarter, June – August 1998

(excerpts from the 3 months reports)

1-11th June, Training in basics of nonviolence in Budapest

This training was the major event since the Szeged training, gathering this time not only Bosnian participants, but also people from Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia. As expected it was a very difficult training with much conflict potential within the group that trainers and participants needed to cope with. Extremely bad news from Kosovo influenced the mood to a great extent and at last, two of the Prishtina participants went home earlier, because of the danger of being unable to go back a few days later. The training was successful, but very very difficult and exhausting (particularly for the training team). A detailed report is available in serbo-croat-bosnian language.

The trainer team consisted of: Cvijeta Novakovic (CKMN -Tuzla), Jasmin Redzepovic and Nenad Vukosavljevic (CNA). The training was organised in cooperation with Schueler Helfen Leben – Sarajevo and funded by OSCE.

 

26-28th June “European Futures Congress” in Budapest

CNA representative was invited by IPPNW – Germany to talk on the topic of “conflict prevention instead of military intervention”. The congress was an occasion for networking and updating of knowledge on European discussions about European security models and ideas.

The draft of the speech is available in English on request.

 

30th June – 5th July 98, project visit by Jörg Rohwedder (KURVE – Hamburg

office)

This first project visit of the German project coordinator was an occasion to discuss many issues concerning experiences gathered so far, difficulties and future plans. It was good to receive feedback and exchange training experiences, reflect on future plans and rethink strategies. In the coming two years, we hope to be able to hold onto our plan foreseeing 3 project visits a year.

 

20-31.7.98 in Teslic (RS), Training for teachers from the area Banja Luka –

Bihac – Jajce, Basics of nonviolence

The training was organised by Zenska Akcija Vidra; pax christi, Banja Luka;

and Youth Bridge International, Banja Luka. There were around 25 teachers

from the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska, who were divided in 2

groups. Two trainings took place parallel to one another, one group was

lead by the trainers from the Center for Peace Studies, Zagreb (Ana and

Otto Raffai) and Sanela Pasic of Zenska Akcija Vidra; and the other one by

N.V of CNA, Cvijeta Novakovic of The Center for Culture of Peace and

Nonviolence (CKMN), Tuzla and a co-trainer in charge of documentation,

Ivana Franovic from the Students Union / Antiwar Campaign, Belgrade.

Different to other trainings that CNA has conducted, the average age of

participants was 40 years (half of the participants. were 50 years or

older). The training was very intense and the participants very motivated

for work. Despite concerns before the training, the working methods and the

team itself were very well accepted. It was amazing to see how open and

capable older people are, for requestioning of their own opinions and

honest, but constructive confrontation with others. The evaluation showed a

high scale of satisfaction with work and it was underlined that things they

have learned can be applied not only in dealing with children in school but

in their everyday life. A very detailed documentation is available in

serbo-croat-bosnian language.

 

 

3. COOPERATION

 

MAIN COOPERATION PARTNERS

Schüler helfen leben – SHL

CNA and SHL have intensive and fruitful cooperation. Three trainings

organised together are the results of it, so far. We plan to continue on

our cooperation in organising trainings (the next one is the training for

trainers). The contacts and partners of CNA and SHL are widely overlapping,

as our information exchange is regular. Furthermore, many participants of

CNA trainings are recruited from the wide network of people that SHL is in

contact with on other projects, like the newspapers “Nepitani”.

 

Center for Culture of Peace and Nonviolence, Tuzla – Centar za kulturu mira

i nenasilja CKMN

Cvijeta Novakovic of CKMN, has been our partner in a training team in 4

trainings this year. The fact that CKMN has no organisational structure as

such, and a very limited time that C.N. can invest into training

preparation and evaluation, has caused difficulties for CNA, needing to

overtake a large amount of work for the respective trainings. The distance

between Sarajevo and Tuzla is another aspect that hinders better

cooperation. Nevertheless this cooperation has been a great experience for

CNA and we plan to continue it in future, reshaping it to fit the needs of

all.

 

pax christi, Banja Luka

CNA was invited to run the training in Teslic by an invitation of pax

christi and this has been the only concrete project we undertook together.

But even beyond that, the regular exchange and mutual support has been of

great value for the CNA volunteer in the past and we hope that our

cooperation will further grow.

 

 

COOPERATION REQUESTS & PERSPECTIVES

 

Macedonia

CNA received a request on cooperation from Macedonia, by one participant of

the Budapest training (JUne 98, Basic training in nonviolence), a

representative of the Embassy for Peace from Skopje. The ideas are still

being discussed, but we have agreed on two first steps in this cooperation.

We are planning to organise at least two trainings, that should take place

in Macedonia.

1. Training for participants (NGO activists) from Macedonia, BiH, Serbia,

Kosovo and Croatia (possibly also Slovenia and Montenegro) in nonviolence.

The training will be held in serbo-croat-bosnian language. Embassy for

Peace takes over the organisational part (including funding) and CNA the

training implementation, although the detailed programme will be commonly

agreed. Further cooperation partners in this project will be Antiwar

Campaign from Belgrade (interest confirmed) and hopefully also

Postpessimists from Prishtina-Kosovo.

2. Training for NGO activists of South East Europe (Turkey, Greece,

Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia and BiH).

The core of the training team will be international, most likely Bosnian-

Serbian-Turkish. CNA would like to have KURVE’s Turkish partners from

Izmir, Ilke SKD in the trainer team. Contact has been established already

and a visit to CNA will hopefully be paid to CNA this year, by Hülya

Ücpinar from Izmir, where further details can be worked on.

 

Kosovo

Members of the Postpessimists group from Prishtina have expressed interest

in inviting CNA to run a training organised by them. As the situation in

Kosovo does not allow any planning at the moment, it is questionable if and

when this could be implemented. Therefore CNA wants Postpessimists to join

the project in Macedonia mentioned above. CNA is very happy about this

contact and wants to develop this cooperation as much as possible and

include it into the cooperation with groups from Serbia and Macedonia. No

matter what the near future brings to the region, from a long-term

perspective these contacts need to grow for the sake of future.

Technical communication difficulties between BiH and Kosovo are

nevertheless very annoying.

 

Belgrade – FR Yugoslavia

Two members of Antiwar Campaign (Antiratna kampanja) expressed interest in

cooperation with CNA. The above described Macedonia project would be an

excellent occasion for Antiwar Campaign to join in. CNA encouraged them to

contact the Group Most of The Center for Antiwar Action, Belgrade. One of

the mentioned persons, who were at the CNA training in Budapest (June 98),

was included in the team as a co-trainer in charge of documentation, during

the training in Teslic (July 98).

CNA looks very much forward to future cooperation.

 

Republika Srpska – BiH

CNA was approached by two participants of the Budapest training who work in

the Democratic Youth Club (Demokratski omladinski klub) concluded that

“something like CNA must exist also in Banja Luka”. It is apparently

impossible for CNA to get deeply involved in eventual development of such

center in Banja Luka, but we may help with advice, contacts and support.

 

Croatia

During the training in Teslic (july 98, Training for teachers in

nonviolence), CNA got to know Ana and Otto Raffai, two trainers of The

Center for Peace Studies of the Antiwar Campaign. Since we all enjoyed our

cooperation there, we are considering possibilities of working occasionally

together in a team. The training for trainers programme which starts in

October this year, will hopefully be the next step in this cooperation.

 

4. GOALS

 

multiplication

Enabling local people to work independently and share this knowledge in

their organisation and the NGO sector  is the envisioned goal.

 

selection of trainers and their education

Identifying capable locals willing to receive further education as trainers

in nonviolent conflict resolution and including them in the training team.

Supporting their independent work through advice and empowerment.

cooperation with qualified local trainers

Including qualified local trainers in the training team and/or recommending

them elsewhere. Exchanging opinions and experiences on concepts.

Identifying their needs in further education and eventually inviting them

through KURVE to such seminars outside the country. Offering them a chance

of gathering international experience  and contacts (within our

possibilities), through invitations to trainings outside the country as

participants and/or trainers.

 

organisational support and advice

Exploring possibilities of individual support and advice, as a long term

commitment, on various issues

 

gradual transfer of CNA work onto local staff

Identifying capable locals who wish to join the CNA team, with long term

commitment and prospective

 

5. STRATEGY

 

The strategy has been developed guide lined by the major goal of

multiplication and support for locals willing to engage in the work. There

are very few qualified locals in BiH, which may to different extent lead

workshops and trainings in nonviolent conflict resolution. This is possibly

the main reason, why CNA received so many requests, from local and

international NGOs to conduct trainings in nonviolence. CNA has developed a

work plan for the next two and a half years, where responses to the present

situation in this work field have been searched for.

The overwhelming amount of training requests and inquiries for

implementation of training ideas which CNA received, can not be implemented

by CNA alone. There is a great lack of locals capable of conducting

trainings (in the native language) and therefore CNA has set up an agenda

which includes:

there should be at least two longer (10 day) trainings held each year,

where participants of training for trainers can be recruited

a training for trainer should be implemented once a year

future trainers must receive long term and constant support in the form of

advice and further education

 

PERSPECTIVES

 

The project expansion is a reaction on the work overload CNA faced after a

very short period of time. The independent office brought new possibilities

but also difficulties. The main question is how will CNA transfer the work

onto locals. At the moment, there are two possible scenarios of the CNA

development, based on a time frame of three years (end of the project in

August 2000) altogether, which has been set up. In September 99, two years

since the project begin, final transfer strategy need to be set up.

There are two possible developments:

An establishment of a local organisation CNA, staffed solely by locals,

The transfer of work carried out by CNA, to the cooperation partners

(other NGOs with whom CNA will work together in the coming two years).

An establishment of local CNA depends on availability of local people

capable and willing to continue on the work. In the coming 18 months CNA

will work on the training and support of local trainers. The participants

of this training may eventually find their place in a future organisation,

focusing on training work, either in a separate organisation or

incorporated in the work of other NGOs. The most important thing is that

the work is being done, not necessarily, that a local group named CNA

exists.

Inclusion of locals into CNA now, secures the sharing of knowledge about

the needed NGO management, but also influences CNA itself – the training

and advisory work takes more time.

The specific situation of insecurity that concerns many people in the

country and their concern for their future (ability to secure a minimum for

living) is very present. For this reason it may also prove to be difficult

to engage people with a long term commitment in this work which offers

hardly any security concerning the future. The question “Will there be

money for NGO work in two years in BiH?” scares many people to commit

themselves on long term for this work.

 

6. TEAM

 

6.1. PROJECT GROUP

The project group of CNA consists of 4 people who are based in Germany, of

whom two are KURVE Wustrow staff and other two on a voluntary basis. The

idea of the project group is an active accompaniment of the CNA work,

including feedback, participation in the decision making process and the

strategy development. Furthermore the project group is also in charge of

public relations work and fund raising in Germany, besides the coordinator

who has the main responsibility for the above mentioned. The communication

with the CNA office in Sarajevo is held mainly through email.

 

6.2. SUPPORT GROUP

The support group in Hamburg consists mainly of friends of Nenad (CNA

volunteer), who wish to keep informed on the work and are willing to help

with different work, like translations, organisational arrangements and

similar. It is also meant to ease the work burden that lays on the project

coordinator in Germany. The support group plays an important role as it

gives an important support for the volunteer, in the situation of being

alone in the field.

 

6.3. TASK DIVISION

 

FUND RAISING

The coordinator in Germany is in charge of fund raising in Germany. He

succeeded to raise the funds and cover the budget hole of the running year.

For the present fund raising concerning next two years, the grant proposals

have been prepared by CNA, translated in Germany and forwarded to the

potential sponsors there.

For the project extension and new volunteers, CNA needs much more than for

the first project year. At least two thirds of this amount needs to be fund

raised by CNA staff alone, as the KURVE staff in Germany does not have the

capacity to secure these funds. Hence an enormous work load and

responsibility has fallen on the Sarajevo office, whereby the CNA volunteer

has free willingly overtaken this responsibility, faced with the

alternative to scrap the plans of intensifying and widening the work or do

the fund raising himself.

In the first year coverage of project costs through trainer fees amounts to

15-20% of the total budget, whereby with more advisory activities this rate

will probably sink, as hardly anyone wishes to fund these necessary

activities, which are less attractive than seminars. Nevertheless, CNA will

search for funds to cover our planned activities and will not search for

possible activities in fields where enough money is available.

 

PUBLIC RELATION

Public relation is solely the responsibility of the KURVE staff in Germany.

A press portfolio has been prepared recently for this purposes and an

advertisement flyer produced, aiming to reach new potential private donors.

CNA office was visited few times by journalists, whereby it is unclear what

use do we have of it, since sometimes the statements were so twisted and

cut, that the sense of the message was completely changed. Besides that,

CNA does not have terrible flash news to report and long-breath peace work

is obviously of no value for the media.

 

consequences of such task division:

The work overload resulting from the additional task of fundraising and the

comparatively small support in this respect from the main office, has lead

to less communication and to quick decision making by the CNA staff alone,

since few suggestions or comments came in. In one hand this has lead to an

independence and given space to react quickly, but on the other hand

towards detachment from the Main office. Some improvements were introduced

securing the flow of information from Germany to Sarajevo, but the other

way around the amount of information being passed on has been reduced to

regular public 3 months reports and on information exchange during visits.

 

6.4. FEEDBACK

The need for feedback which has been expressed often by the volunteer could

rarely be satisfied. Under present circumstances, only the existence of the

team in the field could serve the need for feedback, mutual exchange and

strategy development on a much needed daily basis, in a satisfactory way.

No matter what amount of information has been passed onto the main office

and the support group, the feedback was rather scarce in terms of

reflections about the development of the project its goals and perspectives

(the feedback usually contained technical issues). Immediately after the

demand for feedback, some of it would come, but would short after get

reduced. Project visits have therefore proved to be very fruitful for

exchange, common strategy rethinking and discussions about ways of dealing

with most pressing difficulties.

The attempt to introduce a collegial supervision with the group of peace

workers in BiH, has not given satisfactory results. The space for

reflection has therefore been very narrow, in particular because of the

work overload, which imposes priority setting that rates supervision very

low.

 

6.5. BURN OUT

It is rather difficult to speak about the danger of one’s own burn out. I

estimate that this danger has remained very high and I have done little in

respect of preventing it. It is extremely difficult to get rest in the

situation where so much responsibility for the future of the project is

being carried alone, where living and working space are the same, when the

only way to get out of the country is by plane which costs more than it is

affordable for the volunteer pocket money and where I need to be on alert

whenever speaking in the public place (because of the Belgrade accent).

I feel the necessity to have an external accompaniment in the working

process and a safe space for a reflection.

7. SECURITY

The problem of security that was discussed and seriously considered before

the project start has proved to be exaggerated. As long one minds the rules

and act cautiously, there is little reason for a security concern. CNA

volunteer has had no really threatening situations, because of the work

that we do. The large presence of local police forces and international

military forces in the country seems sometimes threatening and at other

times it gives the feeling of security.

Dealing with local authorities on bureaucratic issues, has been at times

annoying and sometimes even an experience of nationalistic motivated

discrimination, but in general this has had a smaller scale than expected.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is certainly not the safest place to be, but doing peace

work does not automatically mean an exposure to danger.

 

8. DIFFICULTIES

Resources

Due to the very limited capacity of staff and financial resources, the CNA

can not respond positively to all of the requests and can not fully meet

the needs of local groups and individuals, that usually come from

participants of the trainings, after their trainings. So it seems that

trainings are building awareness of the needs (how to do things in their

own organisation and pass on their knowledge to others, how to put up a

small training project, where to get support, how to get more education in

trainings, etc).

 

Target group

All trainings conducted by CNA had in common a participants groups who

gathered people of different ethnic origin, but it was ever again difficult

to find enough participants of Croat origin for the trainings. It happened

very often that few of those who applied for the training would jump off in

the very last moment.

Another difficulty was to find an approach to potential participants from

rural areas. It is apparently possible and it has been done, to find

participants from very small towns, but not really from the villages. CNA

has tried to reach those people through other organisations having social/

humanitarian projects in villages, but nevertheless there was little

success in this attempt.

Both mentioned target groups will be under represented at the coming

training for trainers.

 

Exchange of information with colleagues

CNA has experienced at few occasions that NGOs who are engaged in some sort

of work in the area of trainings in NVCR, have been reluctant to share the

information with CNA about it. Furthermore it happened few times that at

our initiative meetings were arranged, or attempts to arrange a meeting

would be made, but ignored by the colleagues.

This is maybe the effect of competition thinking and a fear to reveal

future plans or possible donor relationships etc. This is a very sad

experience, that seems to occur often.

At some cases such behaviour can be simply a result of unreliability.

 

Travel

CNA representative can not travel to Croatia or FR Yugoslavia, what makes

the cooperation with groups from these countries more difficult. Being in

BiH is practically as being on an island. Meetings, trainings and

conferences that often take place in Croatia and FRY and CNA gets invited

to, can not be visited by the present representative.

 

Difficulties we expected, that did not occur:

The expected difficulty of acceptance of the trainer based on his ethnic

origin, has proved not to be an obstacle. Occasionally, there were some

reservations to be felt at the beginning of the trainings, but it has

changed every single time and has at no occasion remained present until the

end of the training. There has at no time been a rejection of trainers

based on their lack of war experience, age or gender. The training team has

also never been accused of being partisan.

The fear of potential participants to travel to the other BiH entity, has

been present. It was a good idea to keep the basic trainings outside BiH

(in Hungary), which has offered neutral ground for everyone. Some

participants have explicitly claimed in the training evaluations, that

their original fear of meeting those from the “other side” or of travel to

the other entity has vanished.

Training participants have sometimes had difficulties at the beginning to

adjust to the work methods in the training, but have quickly adopted them

and enjoyed the special work style. At one occasion during the short two

days training, it was obvious that 2-3 participants have disliked the

working methods (a comment at the end “it is idiotically to ask someone

after one day, “how do you feel?”).

Unclear expectations have indeed been a problem for individuals that

participated in trainings, but at most times, they have discovered for

themselves what can they win through trainings.

The revival of traumatic experiences has once been very present in the

training and it demanded a reshaping of the training programme, whereby

CNA’s understanding is that this is also a part of the learning process and

it should not be avoided or denied if it occurs, whereby there is a clear

need to define the purpose and limits of the training in nonviolence in

this respect.

 

9. POLITICAL DIMENSION OF CNA WORK

 

Whereby most of the international engagement in BiH focuses on the high

political level, CNA does grass root work. We understand our work as one of

the necessary steps in the process of building up of the civil society in

BiH and we are aware of the long breath that this work demands. We do not

aim to exercise a direct political pressure, nor are we capable of such

endeavour. The whole NGO sector in BiH has very little influence on the

decision making, that happens in the political circles. The international

presence is at one hand helpful as it does further the strength of NGOs,

but at the other hand strongly influences the shape of activities that

local NGOs undertake, through their sponsoring guidelines (that often and

quickly change the focus). CNA wishes and aims the empowerment of local

NGOs for their own definition of goals, and focussed activities that would

impose themselves as an important element of the society. The training work

has so far been successful and has given many impulses to the participants

and initiated their cooperation as well. The other area of our work, that

we assessed in the needs analysis, the organisational support and advice

has not been practised much, since it is beyond our present capacities and

resources. We hope to be able to cover this field in the future and give so

a sort of all round support for local NGOs and individuals.

Some of the participants of our trainings are also active in political

parties or bodies, but it would be exaggerated to claim that our work has

covered this target group also. It is rather the overlapping of NGO and

classical political party work that reflects in the group of our

participants. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to know that there are

individuals, within political parties, who appreciate the work on

nonviolent dealing with conflicts and develop their own ideas about such

work within the structures of political parties.

Education is certainly the factor that influences the future developments

in the society, but it is difficult to measure the concrete effects of it,

particularly in the present chaotic situation in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian

educational and political system.

Media representatives as another important target group have also been

under represented at our trainings, only once have we had some in the

participants group of the short training.

 

10. EVALUATION (summary)

 

The project is developing beyond our initial expectations. CNA has

conducted far more trainings than expected one year ago and the outcome is

very satisfying. We have set up an ambitious plan for the future and

believe that our strategy could lead to the fulfilment of our goals. The

work is concentrating a lot about trainings and education of locals for

independent training work. The interest for the trainings is rather big and

we believe that the training for trainers programme will be a milestone in

the plan to hand our work over to locals. CNA has established solid

cooperation in BiH and hence managed to implement many single trainings

that would have otherwise been beyond our capacity.

We have not managed to organise a networking meeting which we initially

planned, because of the fund raising inefficiency. We believe that this

goal (networking) can be achieved also through the training for trainers

programme and that new small groups / teams of locals will be set up, which

will continue on their cooperation independent of CNA, but with our

support. We expect to be able to pass on the training requests to these new

teams of qualified locals.

With our work we have managed to cover a wide net of local NGOs, but we

have not managed to include on a larger scale other target groups like

women’s groups, people from rural areas, media and to some extent also

teachers. We are very glad to have managed to include participants from

other countries of former Yugoslavia and will continue on with this

approach.

The aim to give local groups wider support than just trainings has either

not been met successfully, as it is beyond our capacity.

Future development depends largely on our ability to raise enough funds for

the work and this is definitely our weak point. We have not managed to gain

new sources of funding and need to rely mainly on our present funders who’s

capacities are also limited.

The communication between the project office (CNA) and the main office has

been reduced with a time, as the result of CNA’s priority setting and the

low intensity of communication efforts made by the main office, whereby

this is a onesided perception of the CNA volunteer. With a future team in

the project office the problems that a single volunteer in the project

office has, should be lowered. With such new set up, the present task

division could become manageable for the project office.

The requests for firm cooperation that CNA received, bear also the risk of

establishing dependency relationship, between us and the local group. CNA

has little capacity to enter close cooperation on a daily basis and on the

other hand we will rather take into account that the cooperation develops

slowlier, but carries little risk of dependency.

 

11. WORK PLAN

 

September 98 – November 98

Organisation and implementation of the Training for trainers part 1,

Introductory phase for new staff.

December 98 – February 99

Follow up visits of the training for trainers participants,

Preparation of the participants & organisation and implementation of the

Training for trainers part 2,

6 months evaluation including analysis of conditions for local structures

to replace CNA in its role.

March 99-May 99

organisation and implementation of the Training for trainers part 3

evaluation of the Training for trainers

Organisation and implementation of a 10 day basic Training in nonviolence

and NGO management  in FYRO Macedonia, for participants from FYRO

Macedonia, Serbia, BiH, Kosovo, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and

Albania (in english)

June 99 – August 99

Organisation and implementation of a 10 day basic Training in nonviolence

and NGO management  in FYRO Macedonia, for participants from FYRO

Macedonia, Serbia, BiH, Kosovo and Croatia (in serbian/bosnian/croatian

language)

September 99- November 99

Evaluation of the second year,

Final strategy assessment & setting for transfer of CNA work onto local

structures,

Further work with trainers, exploration of hand-over possibilities

Organisation and implementation of a 10 day basic Training in nonviolence

(1) in BiH.

Networking seminar for NGOs from the territory of the former Yugoslavia,

working in the field of conflict resolution trainings

December 99 – February2000

10 day basic Training in nonviolence (2) conducted solely by local trainers

with CNA Supervision & Support,

additional Fund raising for planned seminars by local staff

Preparation of the Manual for trainings in Nonviolent Conflict Resolution

March 2000 – May 2000

Transfer beginning followed with intense advisory of the local staff and

local cooperation partners,

Implementation of a 10 day basic Training in nonviolence  conducted by

local trainers with CNA Supervision & Support,

Publication of the Manual for trainings in Nonviolent Conflict Resolution

June 2000 – August 2000

advisory activities and support of local trainers

Publication of the Book about the project

Finishing transfer

 

 

 

Nenad Vukosavljevic

For Centar za nenasilnu akciju

the Project office of KURVE Wustrow, Germany

 

in Sarajevo, 10th September 1998

 

***************************************************************

Many thanks to all of those who are supporting the project of KURVE Wustrow

– Centar za nenasilnu akciju, financially or through their engagement that

made this project possible and helped to secure its implementation and all

of those who are with us in their thoughts.

**************************************************************

 

Special thanks to:

Aktionsgemeinschaft Dienst für den Frieden – AGDF

CNA Support group Hamburg

Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft Vereinigte Kriegsgegner – DFG VK Bielefeld

Internationale Ärzte zur Verhütung des Atomkrieges – IPPNW Deutschland

Menschenrechtsreferat des Diakonischen Werkes

OSCE Democratisation office, Sarajevo

Pax christi – Deutscher Zweig

Peace Brigades International – PBI Deutscher Zweig

Quaker Peace and Service

Stiftung Leben und Umwelt

Schüler helfen leben

Towae Stiftung

 

 

 

**************************************************************************

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criticism concerning this report and our general work.

Your thinking along, helps us!

Thank you. ********************************************************************

 

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