The Learning From the Past (LFTP) summer school aims to leverage local expertise in order to educate and train international and local young leaders in the fields of dealing with the past, transitional justice and peace-making. By providing opportunities for exchange between young people from diverse contexts with local practitioners and academic lecturers, the LFTP project will educate the next generation about issues of transitional justice and peace-making at the grassroots level. We hope that this program will both motivate future academic research about these issues as well as inspiring participants to engage as activists in the field.
The learning objectives of the summer school program include:
- Creating space for participants to reflect on major approaches to transitional justice, reconciliation and social recovery in a society that remains locked in a post-war recovery period;
- Allowing participants to engage in an interactive exploration of the above themes alongside distinguished lecturers and practitioners who are renowned in their fields globally and who will facilitate the participants’ experience through interactive learning activities, class discussions, site visits and experiential learning in a local community context;
- Helping participants to develop their understanding about the sources of and possible responses to violent societal conflict;
- Enhancing participants' abilities to prepare and deliver effective oral presentations and to engage in discussions related to challenging and controversial subject matter; and
- Developing participants' understanding and appreciation of the ethical challenges relevant to work and research in post-conflict societies and expanding their capacity to apply appropriate and sensitive techniques and methodologies in such settings.
The LFTP summer school provides a unique educational experience of particular significance to participants both from the Balkan region and to those from beyond the region who are interested either in the Balkans or the topics of transitional justice and peace-building. By including local academics and practitioners as lecturers, the LFTP summer school amplifies the incredible local expertise in these fields and provides them with an audience of eager students. By including both local and international participants in the LFTP program, we have found that LFTP generates a much livelier learning context with self-reflective and fruitful conversations. Both local and international participants are empowered to leave LFTP and return to their own societies as agents of transformation.