5th Post-Yugoslav Peace Academy
Dear friends,
the Peace Academy Foundation announces the Fifth Post-Yugoslav Peace Academy which will be organized in Sarajevo from 22nd – 31st July, 2012.
It is our pleasure to inform you that we are organizing the 5th Post-Yugoslav Peace Academy (PYPA) for persons from across former Yugoslavia who are active in the filed of peacebuilding, dealing with the past, human right's protection. This event is tailored for activists, students, researchers, theoreticians, journalists and all others whose focus is peace work.
The fifth PYPA is going to be organized in Sarajevo from July 22nd - 31st July 2012.
Our basic intention is to contribute to the advancement of peacebuilding practices and theory in the Post-Yugoslav countries and offer those who deal with peacebuilding the opportunity to:
- Critically evaluate and reflect on practices and models applied to date in the peacebuilding field regarding the region of former Yugoslavia and beyond;
- Become introduced to new theories and practices of peacebuilding from different parts of the world.
After the academies of the last four years (each consisted of three simultaneous courses organized during a single session) and their remarkable experience, this year's Post-Yugoslav Peace Academy offers three different courses (held at the same time and at the same location) to interested activists and researchers:
1. Politics, Power and Inequalities
Instructors: Vlasta Jalušič and Tonči Kuzmanić, Mirovni inštitut, Slovenia
Working language: Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian
Course Description: The course aims at an in-depth analysis of understanding the issue of inequality and its correlation with violence and relationships between politics, power and (in)equality. The approach to the course is based on the premise that inequalities undermine politics and power and that they contribute to violence or lead to violence. However, inequalities can sometimes present a greater danger then violence. Therefore, the course discusses proactively if violence is really “the worst thing that can happen to us." The empirical baseline of the course are the cases of revolutions as generators of power and politics, while the focus will be put on experiences from 1968, on the revolutions in Central and East Europe during 1989, and the resent revolutions in Middle East and Africa (known as the “Arab Spring”). Key questions are: What happened when political-based power becomes a stunted basis of institutions? How to discuss and understand (in)equal state policies in such contexts and how to respond to them? Various experiences in establishing power and its institutionalization will be discussed and accompanied by exercises in forms of concrete policy analysis of laws and documents that refer to issues of (in)equality and its consequences.
2. Role of Historical Truth in Conflict Transformation
Instructor: Svjetlana Nedimović, Puls demokratije, BiH
Working language: Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian
Course Description: The course has two purposes. In terms of substance, its goal is to discuss the status of historical truth in societies and its role within the process facing the past and as a means of searching for a historical truth within state institutions (judiciary, commissions, academic sphere) as well as within social institutions (creative industry, informal relations). The purpose of the course is to open the discussion on the ethical and political status of truth and debate about the mechanisms of establishing and disseminating historical truth, which would neither be hindered by institutionalism in terms of theoretical framing nor by empirical critics of institutionalized forms for searching for the truth. The second important aspect of the course is the work on participant's essays. The course will provide guidance on participant's writings not only because they are a channel for disseminating gained knowledge, but also because they present an important element of cognitive processes and understanding the world in general.Note: Writing essays is a prerequisite to attend the course.
3. Strategic Peacebuilding
Instructor: Jayne Docherty, Eastern Mennonite University, USA
Working language: English
Course Description: This course will explore the challenges and dilemmas of peacebuilding in contemporary protracted and violent conflict. It will focus on learning how to: a) understand the meaning of being strategic in the midst of conflict, b) develop a strategic plan for coordinating the peacebuilding work of multiple actors and stakeholders, and c) create and sustain a network of partners for building peace in a specific location. We will work primarily from the perspective of nongovernmental practitioners, but with careful attention to coordinating NGO work with Track I official actors (national, international, and regional), funding agencies, community based organizations (CBOs) and others working to promote peace. Participants will interact with current approaches, frameworks and theories, and become familiar with the language and terminology used at different levels of peacebuilding. The course also focuses on practical skills. Participants will work in teams to create strategic peacebuilding plans for their own organization, community, or region. They will also practice workplace skills such as preparing one-page briefings, reports and/or talking points about a conflict, and responding to and using information from the media to prepare an advisory memo to a funding organization. The second half of the course will be a simulated strategic peacebuilding exercise in which all class participants will take a role in the conflict and work together to produce a plan of action for building peace.
Each participant can attend only one course. The call for applications will be published on this link on May 1st. If you would like to receive the application form directly to your email, please let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Participation Prerequisites:
- Participants need to have at least three years of experience in the field of peacebuilding or related fields such as journalism and the media, formal education institutions (students and teachers, professors), arts, governmental institutions and other.
- Participants need to have willingness to attend the selected course during its whole eight-days duration (late arrivals and early departures will not be tolerated).
- Participants need to have willingness to fulfill all obligations related to the course (reading obligatory and recommended literature before the start of PYPA, writing final essays, and openness to listen and openly communicate).
- Fluency in English language is a prerequisite for the 3rd course.
- Minimum age for participation is 21 years (those born before July 1991).
Persons who previously did not participate at the Peace Academies will be given advantage. Of the entire number of participants, 15% will be reserved for participants coming from other countries beyond the ex-Yugoslav region, where advantage is given to those whose work is connected to the Region or those coming from conflict areas.
Working Methodology:
Course combine lectures (to a lesser degree) and interactive work methods (extensively) through group discussion, small group activities, analysis of video and written materials. This type of working methodology assumes participant's active involvement and contribution in creating a good work dynamic.
The total duration of each course is eight days - seven working days and one free day in the middle of the course. Working days will divided into two blocks - morning and afternoon block with a lunch break in between. All selected participants are obliged to read written materials (course literature) before the start of the Academy. They will receive the materials a month ahead.
Expenses:
Total costs of the participation at the Post-Yugoslav Peace Academy are 700€ per participant and entirely covered by the Peace Academy Foundation through the financial support by Mennonite Central Committee and Balkan Trust for Democracy. These costs include accommodation, lunch, renting working facilities, and lecturers' honoraria. Participants are responsible for covering their travel expenses along with PYPA's obligatory participation fee.
Participation fees:
- Participants who are citizens of one of the former Yugoslav countries pay a participation fee of 75,00€ (if a participant has no monthly income at all the participation fee is lowered to 50,00€).
- Participants who are citizens of other countries pay a participation fee of 300,00€.
Applying to PYPA:
Call for Applications (CfA) will be announced on May 1st 2012 on this link.
If you need additional information or have questions, please contact us at:
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tel/Fax: +387.33.651.560
Contact person: Emina Trumić, PAF Coordinator
