NEWSLETTER No. 10

LESKOVAC

Theme: Initiatives towards multiethnic reconciliation

Subsequent to armed conflicts as well as periods of severe violation of human rights in a state, there are few issues as urgent as reconciliation; reconciliation with oneself, reconciliation with new reality and reconciliation with recent enemy. In order to carry out the long process of rebuilding a multiethnic tolerant society, trust and reconciliation in societies that used to represent a mixture of nationalism, dictatorship and fascism, the method of providing assistance to forces interested in the realization of this process is extremely important. Where there is space for punishment, there is space for forgiveness. However, extreme forces, aware of the danger rising above their future, are very tough in their resistance and try to accomplish their goals through terror. Apart from the wounded and murdered, the outcome of such actions are also fear and distrust of neighbours. 

Civic forces that have the role of a cultivator in this territory are still developing. Parallel to the fall of the regime and the beginning of democratic processes, a tendency to form non-governmental organizations with the mission of society democratisation emerged in the territory of South Serbia. A large number of those new-formed non-governmental organizations gather people who want to make a contribution to their environments and they have already initiated a lot of processes in the domain of democratisation. By initiating and implementing the project  >Elections: tools of reconciliation< Educational Centre has contributed to the formation of a series of youth initiatives in multiethnic regions. During the project implementation, aimed at strengthening trust in the system institutions, we came to a conclusion that reconciliation in a multiethnic society was a process that required a lot of attention in terms of providing support to civic initiatives.

However, the problem of initiatives and their members is lack of knowledge and skills in running an organization and the impossibility to become better acquainted with the work in NGO sector in order to build stable and sustainable organizations which would have the opportunity to perform long-term activities in the territory where they were formed.

The existing NGOs in this region already have a highly recognizable national identity and represent a bad example, especially to the youth initiatives with the idea of reconciliation and tolerance.

Through providing support to new organizations, initiated by participants in the project >Elections: tools of reconciliation< we are entering a logical course of an educational process aimed at strengthening the struggle against extremism. Full of enthusiasm, young people - generations 1983-1984 - have initiated the forming of NGOs with a view to rebuilding a multiethnic tolerant society. And reconciliation above all!

 The entire story that we have lived through together serves as a reminder that we should still work with more tangible methods against extremism. In our case, that is education.

Media promotion, trainings and workshops, small and focused campaigns, as well as awareness meetings, will increase the capacities and the level of knowledge of the developing youth initiatives. Joined initiatives of the young from South-Serbian municipalities will conduct a joint reconciliation and ethnic tolerance campaign, significant to the region of the entire South Serbia and Kosovo, too. Due to their strategic position and activities in the territory of South Serbia, the initiatives, which are to grow into organizations in the future, will receive support in terms of both knowledge and application techniques, as well as financial support. 

The programme duration is eight months and it includes four time-framed parts:

• Media promotion

• Educational programme

• Micro-projects by initiatives

• Awareness meetings

The first part refers to systematic informing of the public of the project importance,  invitation to reconciliation, and positive examples realized up to then.

The second part is the training of the youth initiatives in multiethnic territory for working in NGO sector. 

The third part within this timeframe refers to building capacities of more progressive initiatives, materially and technically. The campaign of the initiatives that are to be selected through a call for project proposals, coordinated by Educational Centre, and the implementation of micro-projects mark the ending of the third phase which has a twofold role: 

• building NGO capacities

• promotion of the idea of reconciliation.

The fourth phase also presents a learning process in the form of organizing awareness meetings which will be used for analysis, discussion and preparation of the organizations’ following steps, with a view to their independence, in terms of self-reliance and informal networking for the purpose of working together.

The project duration is eight months and the feedback evaluation  will be followed by preparations for implementation in the territory of this region outside Serbia - Bulgaria, Macedonia and Kosovo.

This is the contribution of Educational Centre to bringing Serbia closer to Europe.

It is a thorny road, but it pays off - for the sake of our children!