Ulcinj/Montenegro, April 20th– 30th 2012
Between April 20th – 30th, 2012 we organized the 36th “Basic Training in Peacebuilding”, a ten-day-long event that took place in Ulcinj/Montenegro.
The participants were highly motivated, committed, and they worked hard during the workshop. They were interested in all of the suggested topics, and especially in the ‘Dealing with the Past’ theme. For most of the participants it was their first opportunity to talk about these topics with people of different backgrounds.
The group of participants consisted of 20 people from Croatia (3), Bosnia and Herzegovina (4), Macedonia (4), Montenegro (2), Serbia (4) and Kosovo (2). There was one participant from Germany who took part in the training as part of her Civil Peace Service. She lives and works in the Sarajevo office of the CNA, and speaks Bosnian very well. In this very heterogeneous group, there were 11 women and 9 men, aged 22 to 67. The average age was 35. About half of the participants are active in non-governmental organizations (although others also occasionally collaborate with some NGOs). Three participants are active in political parties, two in the media, two in the civil service (one of which was an employee of the police), two in education (one teacher of civic education and one teacher of religion), and one person from an association of detainees and war-prisoners.
It was an eventful, emotionally intense, but also a demanding training due to the difficult group of participants. There were no particularly ‘troubled’ individuals in the group, but their combination and mutual interaction created a fertile ground for numerous conflicts. Building the feeling of confidence in the group was a long and slow process, mostly due to the lack of understanding of different opinions, especially among those of the same ethnic background. These difficulties are not uncommon, but this time we needed an unusual amount of time to build some relative confidence among the group members. One of the reasons for this is certainly the combination of certain participants within the group. Another reason is that the real constructive emotional exchange took place only in the second half of the training. This could have been prevented by arranging a slightly different workshop settings during the first two working days so that time could be spared for some of the practices that led to a constructive emotional exchange. Otherwise, the first emotional exchange took place only during the conflicts between individual members of the group, and special efforts were needed to work on building mutual trust.
During this workshop, we dedicated most of our work to the ‘Dealing with the Past’ theme. For that reason we had to limit the space for work on the ‘Peacebuilding’ theme, but it was a good decision because the need to work on ‘Dealing with the Past’ was the strongest. We continued to carefully refer back to all the main points of disagreement, but in a way in which it made us understand why and how our attitudes differed. All exercises that could lead to heated discussions and raise adrenaline were, of course, limited in time. However, all the disputed points of these exercises were expanded and worked on during subsequent workshops, but in a way that would allow us to discuss them in a constructive manner. It is interesting that while evaluating the training, some participants complained that they were interrupted and prevented from telling their stories until the end, although they still had the opportunity to continue their stories (in a different way) during one of the subsequent practices or during informal time.
Triggered by the developments of the recent months, an initiative was launched during the workshop to write an appeal for peace in Macedonia. The appeal is being worked on (which is a durable process, because mere writing of text in such a diverse group is a challenge), but it seems that the text will finally be shaped and sent to relevant addresses.
All in all, we are left with the impression that this training was worth the effort (and the effort to organize such a ten-day-long training, maintain it, and participate in it is really quite substantial). The objectives of the training related to the sensitization and awareness raising have to a large extent been achieved. The objectives related to working on empowerment for action were achieved to a somewhat lesser extent. The expected minimum of what we believe to be the effect of the training is that more than half of the participants apply what they have learnt to their work / environment in one way or another. We are aware that it would be exaggerated to expect that some participants activate themselves also outside of their usual work environment, especially bearing in mind that large part of the group has no experience in social activism. We would need to dedicate more working days to them, during which we could work on some of the principles of social action and helpful practical skills.
In the oral and written evaluation of the training, the participants showed their big satisfaction with the workshop. Some of them even called the training their great school of life. Right now, the only thing left to do is to translate this satisfaction into action.
The training team was represented by Adnan Hasanbegović, Katarina Milićević and Ivana Franović from the CNA, and our associate Marijana Stojčić.
And now a few more interesting facts concerning the application procedure and the selection process for the training: we have received a record number of 227 applications and it was very difficult to make choices, and not to omit a number of quality applications. Most applications came from Bosnia and Herzegovina- 68 (which is often the case), then from Macedonia- 58, and from Serbia- 56, Croatia- 26, from Montenegroeven 10 (considering the fact that in the previous years there were almost none), and 9 from Kosovo. Besides those 227 applications, there were also those which were not considered: a number of unfilled applications (not to say empty ones), two applications from Ghana (the working language of the training is Bosnian / Croatian / Serbian, and the focus remains on the countries of the former Yugoslavia), and applications from people who have already participated in our basic training (which often happens), etc.
The statistics show that as usual, more applications were submitted by women – 140, whereas 87 were submitted by men. The applicants were people between 19 and 67, and the average age was 29.
In the application questionnaire the applicants were asked how they learned about our training. From it we managed to notice that most applicants learned about the training from the internet (various sites, mailing lists), directly from us (our website, Facebook profile, mailing lists), or from other non-governmental organizations. Large percentage of people (20%) received information or recommendation from our former participants. It is interesting to remark that some people were informed about our training at their universities, by their professors or people working in education. It is interesting that some recommendations came from professors from Argentina or Nuremberg, and that there was an increased number of applications from students of the Institute for Security, Defense and Peace in Skopje, encouraged by their university.
Facing this number of applications, the selection of applicants is becoming increasingly difficult, thus the advice for those who wish to apply is to pay special attention to completing the questionnaire, and to better clarify why they want to participate in the training, what is it that they are already working on, and how they think the training could be beneficial for their future work, why they are interested in this particular topic, what is it that they want to discuss with the people from different countries of the former Yugoslavia, etc.
It’s important to mention that we are, as always, very pleased with the cooperation and service of the hotels “Dvori Balšića” and “Palata Venecija”, where this year’s training took place. The multi-ethnic community such as Ulcinj is always a good choice for the training. This is why we love to go back there.
I.F., 16.05.2012
Translation: Agata Siemaszkiewicz
Photo gallery: Training photos