We participated along with young people from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the "Youth Banks for Peace" training organized by the Mozaik Foundation in Sarajevo from February 13th to 16th. The training gathered around 40 young people from various places in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Among others, participants came from Rijeka, Pula, Zagreb, Koprivnica, Bosanska Krupa, Bihać, Sarajevo, and Zenica.
We gathered in Sarajevo on the 13th of March. We first got to know each other and learned about interesting and impressive activities and projects of Youth Banks in BiH. Through financial support, education, and mentoring, Youth Banks encourage young people to submit and ultimately implement projects aimed at the development of local communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Read more about Youth Banks here!
On the second day of the training, we visited the War Childhood Museum and the Trebević mountain. Afterwards, we visited the Mozaik startup studio where Nedim Krajišnik gave us an interesting and interactive lecture on civil rights and issues around stereotyping and prejudice.
YIHR’s Margareta and Dora discussed the mission and goals of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights Croatia with the participants and talked about our informal education and training. They also presented the Activist Network, a key part of the Initiative and its advocacy efforts. Subsequently, they held a workshop on planning an advocacy project, showing young people how to get involved and become an active part of their own regional and local environments. Teams of participants were tasked to think of, design and plan out advocacy projects on the topics of dealing with the past, transitional justice, inter-ethnic cooperation and/or inclusive memory. All teams did a fantastic job, designing very detailed, interesting and inspiring projects. We encouraged them to realize their advocacy plans sometime in the future.
After YIHR’s workshop, Youth Banks’ mentors taught us how to apply for financing, how to advertise projects, and how to make project plans as clear, concrete, and realistic as possible. On the last day of training, Nedim Krajišnik gave the second part of his lecture which focused on social (in)justice and civic action.
Many new friendships were made during the training and the participants shared their satisfaction with what they have learned through written and oral evaluations. We present some of their feedback below:
"I realized that there are actually a lot of young people who think the same and have the same goals"
"Lectures and workshops were great, especially Nedim Krajišnik's lectures. It was never tiring for me and I think it is very nice that tours of Trebević and the city centre were organised as additional activities."
"I have what it takes to contribute to positive changes in my community."
Galerija
