The final, fourth phase of the Training for Trainers in Peacebuilding (TfT) was held from 7 to 13 November in Andrevlje, Fruška Gora in Serbia.
The TfT programme began in May 2014 and it brings together people from the former Yugoslavia. For more on the programme, please see previous texts: Training for Trainers in Peacebuilding (2014) and Second and Third Phase of the Training for Trainers.
Already on the first day, we were joined by Abdullah Ferizi, a peace activist from Kosovo who was also our guest during the first phase of TfT. Since in Andrevlje we were planning joint actions and activities, next steps in the region, we thought it important for Abdullah to introduce us to the context of Kosovo and give his impression of what dealing with the past and reconciliation means in that context, what is possible and what is impossible, what is peacebuilding, and what can dismantle peace. We made the most of his presence, asking various questions, presenting and sharing our fears and dilemmas. We are grateful to him for joining us and giving us an insight that is not falsely optimistic and that requires all of us to think, but also to act.
Since many participants had expressed the need to learn more about the financial aspect of projects during the previous phase of TfT, the second day of the training included a workshop on fundraising and donor policies by Ana Marjanović Rudan, consultant.
In the interim between the final two phases of TfT, we invited the participants to start thinking about actions and activities they would like to
implement. CNA for its part decided to potentially support the implementation of some ideas depending on their content and level of development. We were surprised to find that there were more ideas than participants: 21 ideas! And they were mostly of very good quality, well thought-out, and aimed at furthering peacebuilding in the region. We therefore devoted most of the final phase to exchange of ideas, feedback and arranging for teams that would implement the ideas, as well as planning them out in more detail.
We had to select only a few ideas from the many that were proposed, which was a very difficult task. This is why we believe it is important to point out that no single idea was rejected or forgotten, but only that some will be taken on in the short-term, some perhaps a bit later, and for some ideas that pertain to individual countries in the region, we recommended to our TfT participants to explore possibilities for cooperation with our partner organisations (such as Peace Action from Prilep, for instance).
Eight ideas went through all the stages of development and planning within the Training for Trainers, and they are (working titles given):
- Regional literary competition on the topic of dealing with the past
- Regional peace council – a joint regional voice of the group in public on issues relevant to peacebuilding
- Publishing verbal accounts of people who had helped their neighbours during the war
- Training for students in BiH
- One-day workshops for secondary school pupils from certain cities in BiH
- Peacebuilding and dealing with the past training for participants from Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia
- Actions to mark unmarked sites of suffering
- Documentary on people who left their homes, 20 years after the Dayton Agreement
Since we received excellent initial ideas, and since all the participants showed a high level of motivation to participate in these activities, the team of trainers will decide which initiatives to support and how at a later stage of their development.
We also used this gathering to make a number of videos, some of which will be used to produce videos for public information, and others will be shared within the group as a memento of our time spent together.
We left Andrevlje without tears or goodbyes, knowing that there is still a lot to do, that we have completed the training, but encouraged by the fact that we can all support each other and that after this TfT there are 19 more peace activists in the world.