The Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law and its partner organisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mreža za izgradnju mira / Network for Building Peace announce the launch of the project initiative

“A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO YOUTH ORIENTED FUTURE IN BIH”

and invite interested BiH NGOs and individuals active in fields such as peace building, reconciliation, youth, and media to participate in the initiative.

THE ACTIVITIES AND WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN:

Our project runs until December 2022.

We invite a diverse group of activists – young or experienced – to get together and exchange.

You will be part of a group of likeminded people eager for change, diverse in terms of location, political, and other background, but united in the idea that the conflicts of the past and nationalist rhetoric shall no longer shape the everyday life and that the future must reflect the needs and ideas of the youth.

We want to establish a platform for all organizations in BiH working for peace. We want to facilitate a space where young people from across BiH can discuss and elaborate on what unites them and how they can together push for positive change. We want to amplify their voices so that they are heard and cannot be ignored.

From September 2021 until December 2022 we will meet eight times for two days each, in Sarajevo and at other places.

Contact us and we will be happy to share more information with you.

BACKGROUND:

In October 2018, the Max Planck Foundation commenced its activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This first initiative ended in December 2019 and was carried out under the heading of “A strategic approach to transitional justice and reconciliation”. In essence, it comprised a dialogue with BiH civil society organisations active in the field of peace building and governmental representatives of the Federation, Republika Srpska, and Brcko District.

The initiative showed again – to no one’s surprise – that more than 25 years after the Dayton Peace Agreement Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a divided country and reconciliation between its different peoples and groups seems far away. The scars of the war have not healed, economic prospects are bleak, and young people want to leave the country.

Governments and politicians have done little to improve the situation. Instead of creating ways for reconciliation, for all people to live in harmony and work for a better future, scare mongering and divisive nationalist rhetoric can be heard on a daily basis.

Many people, both younger and older, have invested much hope that the process of joining the European Union may bring change. However, this is still seen as an uncertain option sometime in the future. At the same time, people in BiH do not see the EU as actively contributing to a process of reconciliation

Many civil society organisations (CSOs) do a phantastic job in running a diverse range of peace building activities. However, as great as these individual projects are, their overall impact remains marginal. One of the reasons is that CSOs work in isolation from each other instead of creating a united voice that can not be ignored.

The Max Planck Foundation together with its partner, Network for Building Peace, want to change this. We want to get civil society organisations together so that they talk to each other about how to break their isolation and be stronger together. We invite all civil society groups dedicated to peace and equality to engage in a strategic dialogue about a better future without hatred and ethnic division. We appeal especially to youth organisations. It is the young people of BiH who make the future of this country, both by leaving or by staying, by living in conflict and division, or by living in peace and prosperity.

Mreža za izgradnju mira / Network for Building Peace

Elma Demir, Project Manager elma.demir@mreza-mira.net

Nermina Trbonja, Consultant trbonja.nermina@gmail.com

Max Planck Foundation

Dr. Daniel Heilmann, LLM Head of Project

Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law Phone: +49 6221 91404 39

Skype: mpfpr.heilmann https://www.mpfpr.de/ heilmann@mpfpr.de

Patrick Schneider International Consultant Phone: +44 1722 238864

+49 163 2229307

Skype: schneider.mpfpr schneider@mpfpr.de