Open Call for 6 Participants for Youth Exchange in Sarajevo, B&H
Name of the project: ”REMEMBERING SREBRENICA”
Date of Project: 08.07.2022. – 15.07.2022.
Hosting Organization: ”BRAVO”
Place: Sarajevo, B&H
Participants age: +18
The number of participants: 6
Working language: English
Deadline for applying: 26.06.2022.
This project is financed by the European Commission through the Erasmus Plus Program. This publication reflects the view only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. By Erasmus+ rules organizers will cover travel costs, accommodation and food.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Balkans are a land of blood and honey, of war and peace.
Bosnia and Herzegovina lives and survives every day, convinced that war is inevitable and that peace is only a break between a war and another one. The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a recent memory, especially for the inhabitants of Podrinje, Srebrenica, Bratunac and Zvornik who witnessed and survived the horrors of war and genocide. Srebrenica, the city of silver, in the very near July 1995 and in the very close Bosnia and Herzegovina, was the scene of a terrible genocide: inside what was supposed to be a protected area, 8372 men and children were killed and buried in mass graves. The general objective of the project is the promotion of respect for human rights, peace and intercultural and interreligious dialogue.
The project is involving 5 partner organizations from both EU and non-EU countries (Bosnia and Hezegovina, Italy, Serbia, Germany and Netherlands)
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:
- to inform and increase awareness among new generations on the importance of peace and human rights, through the memory of Srebrenica and all the victims of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, mass murders and mass rapes in Europe and worldwide;
- develop the critical thinking of young participants on the issues of national and ethnic identity and intercultural and interreligious dialogue.
Remembering Srebrenica (RESRE) is an international youth exchange that will take place in Bosnia, Sarajevo and Srebrenica, in 2022 and will involve 25 young Sardinians, Serbian, German, Dutch and Bosnian Young people aged between 18 and 25 and 5 group leaders.
Activities will consist in presentations, evaluation sessions, team building activities, moving debates about human rights and intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, multicultural evenings, workshops for creation of badges and bookmarks, round tables with religious representatives of Sarajevo, energizers and visits to the Srebrenica Memorial. The last day of activity will be dedicated to the final evaluation, the preparation and delivery of the Youthpass and the presentation of the results. Badges and bookmarks created during the workshops will be sold by young participants in the following month. The funds raised will be donated to the IFS Emmaus and Mothers of Srebrenica associations.
Methods employed at this youth exchange will be based on non-formal learning and will include:
- Participants will discuss very controversial topics on the global level and in their home countries and will have to find positives in the view point that they personally disagree with and also negatives in the viewpoint they agree with.
- We will use theoretical concepts like Thomas Sowell’s constrained vs unconstrained vision of human abilities and Jonathan Haidt’s five key principles of morality to find philosophical and moral assumptions of conservative and progressive worldview.
THE MARCH OF PEACE
The march, starting on 7th July each year, welcomes participants from all over the world to march in protest over the outstanding arrests and prosecution for those responsible for the Srebrenica genocide and the numerous war crimes committed during the war conflict in Bosnia. The first march was held in 2005, to mark the tenth anniversary of the genocide. The campaign lasts three days, culminating in the participants’ arrival to the village Potočari, where the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial-Cemetery is located. The participants arrive a day prior for the mass funeral that occurs for those victims who have been found from the previous year. The search for bodies of the victims is ongoing every year.
At the end of the march, participants have the opportunity to attend a memorial service and join the funeral prayer for the burial of identified victims from mass grave sites, some of whom had attempted or indeed had been a part of The Column itself. The march itself is long 100 km approximately and is divided in 3 different stages, participants are expected to pass one stage a day (approximately 30 km per day). The route includes difficult-topass mountainous areas such as Udrč, 1043 m of altitude. During the march, participants have the opportunity to see some of the significant sites from the not-so-distant past, where mass executions of captured Bosniaks took place or where primary or secondary mass graves were found.
As a part of this project, participants will join 3rd stage of peace march on 9th of July where they will spend night in tents. Next day, 10th July, participants are expected to walk to Potočari. In the afternoon participants will help to bring coffins to the graveyard, interview locals and tourist about Srebrenica and Potočari and spend time with volunteers in EMMAUS CENTER Potočari. Participants will spend night in Potočari, they are expected to sleep in tents as well. After burial ceremony on 11th July, participants will return to Sarajevo.
Important to know: although temperatures in July may reach up to 35o C, almost each year during the march it is raining, due these reasons participants are advised to bring waterproof clothes and footwear.
PARTIIPANT'S PROFILE
Participants: 5 participants per country (18 – 25) + 1 group leader per country (18+)
Who: volunteers, youth workers, activists, representatives of NGOs, students…
Gender: No matter
Language: English
HOSTING ORGANIZATION
Bosnian Representative Association for Valuable Opportunities
Bosnian Representative Association for Valuable Opportunities (BRAVO) is non-profit and nongovernmental organization. The things that make this organization outstanding and ready to assume responsibility are core principles: tolerance, democracy, diversity, voluntariness and openness. Our teams are working in the following fields/topics: Human Rights, Anti-Trafficking, People with disabilities, Reproductive health and STDs, Gender Equality and Combating Gender-Based Violence, Sports on a daily basis, Audio and Video production, People with fewer opportunities, Organizing events, Entrepreneurship, IT and ICT, Technology, Humanitarian actions, National and International projects, Support in fight against Criminal and Corruption, Accelerating start-ups, Industry 4.0, Entrepreneurship, Project management, Refugee and Migrants, Creative Actions, but at the same time we are working on publishing books, brochures, newsletters, flyers, affiliations and other publications and a lot of others activities. Our general target group is youth within the age of 15 to 35, but we focus on all people in need of help and our support. Bearing that in mind, we say that we care for people from 3 to 103. The focus of our organization is on international projects, including all sectors and topics above, but at the same time working with people with fewer opportunities and taking care of European values and principles.
We are working with institutions for people with disabilities such as institutions for Deaf and Blind people. Through our activities, in cooperation with institutions and organizations led by people with disabilities, we are teaching silent language and do sports activities with blind people. At our projects as coordinators or hosting organization, we love to bring participants in one of these two institutions and give them an opportunity to learn something totally new.
We are working on the following fields:
- Youth Empowerment
- Education and training
- Soft skills
- Public speaking and communication
- Employment Creation
- Teaching importance of the Reproductive Health and STD-s – Combating Anti-trafficking
- Environment
- Youth and Non-Formal Education
- Arts and Culture
- Sport and Recreation
COORDINATING ORGANIZATION
Malik Association
Malik is a non-profit Youth Association that promotes solidarity and inclusion through training and education. The organization has 10 active members and a multidisciplinary staff, composed by 2 employees and several collaborators. The main association’s mission is to foster intercultural and sustainable development, through workshops, exhibitions, youth exchanges, Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps projects, cultural activities and non-formal education. The association aims to:
– foster cultural, artistic, social, environmental, ideological and civil development of citizens and, above all, youngsters;
– promote awareness on universal issues; – spread democracy and solidarity in human relationships for sustainable development;
– promote active citizenship and sense of ownership to the EU.
Since 2008 Malik coordinates the project Sportello in Spalla (Backpack Desk), aimed to connect to Europe young people having geographical barriers and to promote their activities and European citizenship, facilitating their participation in transnational projects related to training, education, job, volunteering and mobility. Sportello in Spalla project, in 2019, was considered the best European Project in the “Solidarity” category of European Eurodesk Awards. Malik has been coordinating, as Lead partner, 19 Erasmus+ and ESC projects and implementing, as partner, more than 50 Volunteering projects, Youth exchanges, study visits, training courses and Strategic Partnerships in Italy and abroad (Ireland, Portugal, Estonia, Croatia, Spain, Poland, Chzec Republic, Serbia, Turkey, France, Malta, Romania, Moldova, Egypt, Slovenia, Belgium, Jordan, UK, the Netherlands and Slovenia). Projects covering different the following fields: intercultural dialogue, arts, sport, healthy lifestyle, environment, social media, ICT, entrepreneurship, employment, etc. Project “RESRE“ – 2021-1-IT03-KA151-YOU-000009547 6 We are accredited as supporting and hosting organization (Quality LAB) for volunteering projects and, so far, Malik coordinated 7 Erasmus+ and ESC Volunteering projects, hosted 42 volunteers and sent more than 25 volunteers abroad. In 2021 We got the Erasmus Youth accreditation (29th of April 2021-31 of December 2027).
INFO ABOUT THE VENUE
The project meeting will take place in Sarajevo – the city where east meets west:
Its idyllic mountain setting and diverse heritage makes Sarajevo one of Europe’s most intriguing cities. Yet it is its indomitable spirit that makes it truly special. If ever a greeting has momentarily filled my head with mixed emotions, it was the one offered to me the other day by a smiling young taxi driver at an airport.
“Welcome to Sarajevo,” he announced, and then he sped me off to my hotel in Baščaršija, the city’s cultural and historic heart. Although Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is a name which might seem inextricably linked to war and tragedy, the passing of 20 years has done much to heal this remarkable and resilient city, and tourism is now sharply on the rise. The reason is obvious. Sarajevo is beautiful. The city is tucked inside a long, thin valley and surrounded on all sides by forested mountains, and almost every crossroads and street corner provide at least a glimpse of an idyllic picture-postcard backdrop. During the worst moments in the city’s history, when its inhabitants were targeted by snipers, this dramatic geography proved to be a terrifying drawback but, thankfully, the spectacular natural beauty of Sarajevo can again be admired and enjoyed.
The best way to do this is to find the highest vantage point possible, and with the recent reopening of Sarajevo’s iconic cable car, a trip up the mountainside has, once again, been made easy. A short walk from Baščaršija brings you to the shiny new cable car station in the foothills of Mount Trebević, one of the peaks which played host to events in the 1984 Winter Olympics. For a return fee of 20 Bosnian marks (approximately £10), this must-do cable car lifts you more than 1,100m in seven minutes, providing breathtaking views every second of the way. At the top, the perspective shifts and changes like a kaleidoscope. In the short space of time that I was on the mountain, I saw the cityscape swelter beneath me under a clear blue sky and then quickly become obscured by twirling strands of mist that seemed to appear from nowhere. It’s a view which defies comparison with most other European cities. Mosques and minarets decorate the skyline along with the Romanesque towers of Catholic churches and the onion-shaped domes of Orthodox ones. And that is another thing which makes this city so fascinating: it’s a place where east and west meet.
On the main pedestrian thoroughfare, Ferhadija, this cultural equator is marked for posterity on the pavement and a sign encourages visitors to take a photo looking first one way up the street and then the other. The contrast is stark. Austro-Hungarian architecture and a mosaic of western shop signs can be seen in one direction, while, with a simple turn of the head, the outlook abruptly transforms into a Turkish bazaar. On one side of this line, people sit and drink beer at tables on the street, while on the other, there isn’t a drop of alcohol to be found. Instead, you’ll find open-fronted cafes offering strong Bosnian coffee and also, perhaps, a puff on a hookah pipe.
The project meeting will take place in Sarajevo – the city where east meets west:
Its idyllic mountain setting and diverse heritage makes Sarajevo one of Europe’s most intriguing cities. Yet it is its indomitable spirit that makes it truly special. If ever a greeting has momentarily filled my head with mixed emotions, it was the one offered to me the other day by a smiling young taxi driver at an airport.
“Welcome to Sarajevo,” he announced, and then he sped me off to my hotel in Baščaršija, the city’s cultural and historic heart. Although Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is a name which might seem inextricably linked to war and tragedy, the passing of 20 years has done much to heal this remarkable and resilient city, and tourism is now sharply on the rise. The reason is obvious. Sarajevo is beautiful. The city is tucked inside a long, thin valley and surrounded on all sides by forested mountains, and almost every crossroads and street corner provide at least a glimpse of an idyllic picture-postcard backdrop. During the worst moments in the city’s history, when its inhabitants were targeted by snipers, this dramatic geography proved to be a terrifying drawback but, thankfully, the spectacular natural beauty of Sarajevo can again be admired and enjoyed.
The best way to do this is to find the highest vantage point possible, and with the recent reopening of Sarajevo’s iconic cable car, a trip up the mountainside has, once again, been made easy. A short walk from Baščaršija brings you to the shiny new cable car station in the foothills of Mount Trebević, one of the peaks which played host to events in the 1984 Winter Olympics. For a return fee of 20 Bosnian marks (approximately £10), this must-do cable car lifts you more than 1,100m in seven minutes, providing breathtaking views every second of the way. At the top, the perspective shifts and changes like a kaleidoscope. In the short space of time that I was on the mountain, I saw the cityscape swelter beneath me under a clear blue sky and then quickly become obscured by twirling strands of mist that seemed to appear from nowhere. It’s a view which defies comparison with most other European cities. Mosques and minarets decorate the skyline along with the Romanesque towers of Catholic churches and the onion-shaped domes of Orthodox ones. And that is another thing which makes this city so fascinating: it’s a place where east and west meet.
On the main pedestrian thoroughfare, Ferhadija, this cultural equator is marked for posterity on the pavement and a sign encourages visitors to take a photo looking first one way up the street and then the other. The contrast is stark. Austro-Hungarian architecture and a mosaic of western shop signs can be seen in one direction, while, with a simple turn of the head, the outlook abruptly transforms into a Turkish bazaar. On one side of this line, people sit and drink beer at tables on the street, while on the other, there isn’t a drop of alcohol to be found. Instead, you’ll find open-fronted cafes offering strong Bosnian coffee and also, perhaps, a puff on a hookah pipe.