Youth for Peace joins the global initiative "Faith for Earth" and will organize several activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the coming months. „Faith for Earth“ is an initiative that nationalizes efforts to engage with religious actors in different countries to map religious institutions, conduct training for religious leaders, and launch a campaign to advocate for the role of religion in protecting the environment. The initiative was launched by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). In addition to UNEP, the initiative includes the United Religions Initiative (URI), a global network that has a partner status on the project, as well as many other organizations around the world working on the implementation of environmental projects and interreligious dialogue.

The activities carried out through the platform of the "Faith for Earth" project in BiH are of an environmental nature and aim to bring together young people through interreligious dialogue who will work to raise awareness of the importance of ecology and environmental protection. The project will be implemented during October and November, through an online campaign that will promote awareness of the importance of the environment and its preservation, followed by a stationary seminar for young people and a joint final outdoor activity.

Materials created during the campaign you can find on our social media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. 

Youth for Peace in cooperation with the organizations Res Polis from Serbia and Sfera from Macedonia invites you to participate in the youth exchange within the project "From Pollution 2 Inclusion". The exchange will be held from July 26th to August 3rd, 2021 in Kruševac, Serbia.
The aim of the project is to use digital tools to raise awareness of the importance of protecting our Environment and to promote the use of storytelling and short movies as tools for activism. Through the implementation of the project organizers want to achieve the following specific objectives:

• To raise the citizen's awareness of the current state of the climate changes and the importance of preserving nature, by using digital tools in form of storytelling and short movies
• To share experiences from different countries about how they deal with the problems of recycling and pollution
• To promote the use of movies as a tool to be active citizens in the society we live in
• To share different countries' cultures and life habits and how each of them deals with the topics of pollution and ecology
• To promote voluntarism and activism to the young people

During the exchange, the team from 6 different countries will create short films on the topics of environment, pollution, climate change, recycling, and other topics from the area of ecology. The entire project is designed as a mutual learning arena, in which, using diverse methods, participants can compare their approaches and experiences.

The Youth Exchange itself will gather young people (18+) from 6 countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, and Spain. We are inviting all motivated young people who are enthusiasts about movie-making, storytelling, and anyone else who would like to gain skills and competencies to start using short movies as a tool to send their message to the world. The participants should be interested in the environment, recycling and pollution.

Applications should be sent to the link: https://forms.gle/DJfjLP86i9c5RZGq6
The deadline for applications is 14th July 2021 until 23:59.
For all additional questions, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The pandemic that caught the whole world in early 2020 made it impossible for us to meet, see each other in person and live our daily lives. The pandemic has interrupted the normal life cycle and the usual ways we work. But that certainly did not stop Youth for Peace from continuing its work and efforts to build peace.

In the beginning, it was difficult to adapt to working online, working on a distance, and "watching" people through the camera of our computer or phone, but the transition was slow, and we managed to "take advantage" of technology and gather young people online.

So, on March 26^th, we organized a “Check-In” for our members, to provide a space for conversation and exchange at a time when it was uncertain what was going on. We used this space to connect, to talk about what our lives look like in an altered reality and how we deal with all what that reality entails.

At the beginning of April, more precisely on April 3^rd, we organized a call "ZOOMaj with YfP" for participants from outside our organization. The call was moderated by one of our members and we talked about how we are in lockdown, what we plan to do during isolation and what will we try to finish from our "to do" list in this time that we "got".

We held an online workshop "A word or two about dialogue" for a group of participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, on May 23^rd, where we discussed the basics of dialogue, but also how to distinguish it from debate and discussion. Shortly afterwards, we received an invitation from the Mostar Summer Youth Program organizers to hold a workshop about dialogue for their participants, so on July 6th, our facilitators held an online workshop for 20 young people.

On 30^th August, at the invitation of the Scout Association of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we held an online workshop on overcoming conflict.

In addition to working with young people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, we have established contacts and cooperation with organizations and young people outside BiH, but also outside Europe. So, we held a series of online workshops and meetings with young people from all around the world. Here we are mentioning just some of the events.

Shortly after the whole world went into lockdown, on April 23^rd, our facilitators held an online workshop on interreligious dialogue for a group of young people from Italy who volunteered in Bosnia and Herzegovina before the pandemic as part of Italian government projects, where they talked about theoretical as well as about practical implications of this kind of dialogue.

On August 12^th, on the occasion of International Youth Day, we organized and moderated URI Connection Cafe for 50 young people from 22 countries on the topic of the role of young people in building and maintaining a peaceful, just, and inclusive society. You can read more about this event in the text URI Youth Celebrate International Youth Day.

September 7^th was reserved for an online workshop on interreligious dialogue held by our facilitators in cooperation with URI Europe. The workshop was attended by more than 40 participants from Europe, but also North America, Africa, Asia, and South America. You can read more about this workshop in the text URI Europe ZOOM workshop "A word or two about interreligious dialogue" on the URI Europe page.

Finally, on December 3^rd, in cooperation with the Youth Peace Initiative, we organized a panel discussion "Digitalization of Peacebuilding" during which 4 panelists spoke: Ufra Mir, Peace Psychologist from Kashmir, Tahil Sharma, URI Regional Coordinator for North America, Joep Kies, Program coordinator Youth Peace Initiative and Emina Frljak, Program Coordinator from the ranks of Youth for Peace. You can find more details about this discussion in the text Panel Discussion: The Digitalisation of Peacebuilding on Youth Peace Initiative website.

We, in Youth for Peace, look forward to socializing and learning with our participants, because nothing can replace a face-to-face meeting, but we certainly plan to keep the benefits and advantages of technology and remote working as an integral part of our work.

The coronavirus pandemic has paralyzed the entire world, locked us in our homes, and completely changed our lives. Schools, universities, institutions, restaurants, hotels, public transport, religious sites were all closed and everything was transferred to the online world. In moments that were extremely difficult for the entire planet, during the very beginning of the pandemic, the religious holidays of most religions were coming. The spiritual life of people has also undergone a transformation, it has undergone certain changes. Although spirituality and faith are not strictly related to religious sites, yet the community and what the place of worship provides could hardly have been completely replaced by online services and prayers at home, but still this had to be adapted. 

For this reason, Youth for Peace, in cooperation with Religions for Peace, decided to implement a project that will show the other side of the pandemic and show how religious leaders, women, and youth coped in this period, how they transformed their lives and nurtured spirituality in the age of the COVID 19. From April to October 2020, Youth for Peace conducted interviews with 25 participants and released 19 videos covering various topics related to life during the pandemic. In addition, in September we visited some of the participants, talked to them, and made an additional 3 videos in which we could talk to the participants in person about how they reflect on the period behind them, and what are the most important things and messages they learned from the period since COVID 19 pandemic started.

During the project, more than 6,000 people saw our videos that were posted on the Youtube channel and the Facebook and Instagram pages of Youth for Peace. You can read more about this project on the Religions for Peace website in the text "Youth for Peace" Deliver Hope and Spiritual Resilience in Bosnia and Herzegovina during COVID-19 which was created as a result of an interview with our program coordinator Emina Frljak.

During the weekend of November 16th and 17th, 2019. a meeting of members and volunteers of Youth for Peace was held. The meeting was held at the Student Dormitory "Dr. Dragutin Dujmušić” at Stup, Sarajevo, where 25 members and volunteers of the organization were present. The meeting served as an opportunity for members coming from different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina to meet in one place and discuss past, current, and future activities of the organization. During the first day, a cross-section of activities implemented in the period from last year's gathering of members until now was made.

In the afternoon, the working group in charge of creating the development strategy of Youth for Peace presented their conclusions. The evening was reserved for a team-building activity, during which members had fun, relaxed, and better connected with each other while discussing the importance of teamwork for the functioning of the organization.

On the second day of the gathering, the 7th annual assembly of the organization was held. All the assembly members were present, but the assembly was also open to volunteers who were interested to attend. After the assembly, sessions dedicated to planning future activities of Youth for Peace and mapping the needs of members and volunteers were held. Participants also discussed opportunities for their further engagement in the organization.

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The URI Europe Assembly was held in Ohrid, Macedonia on October 2-6, 2019. URI members from across Europe (including 15 countries and 32 Cooperation Circles) gathered to exchange ideas, enjoy productive conversations, and plan future collaboration and activities – with special excitement for URI Europe’s upcoming 20-year benchmark. Participants were graciously hosted by the local URI Cooperation Circle, Community Development Institute – Tetovo. Among their other activities, the participants also found time to clean garbage from the picturesque shore of Ohrid Lake (pictured above).

This assembly took place 22 years after the first-ever regional URI summit, which was held in Oxford in 1997. Thanks to the hard work of the URI Europe team over the years, URI peacebuilders currently thrive in Europe through the work of 60 Cooperation Circles in 22 countries

Emina Frljak, a representative of Youth for Peace, organization that has been part of the URI for 5 years, attended this gathering. Also in Ohrid was Daniel Eror, URI Global Council Trustee. This was a very good opportunity for Youth for Peace representatives to talk with potential partners, organizations across Europe, who share similar values and goals for peacebuilding

On February 13th 2014. Youth for Peace was founded and now four years after, it grew, it became known and it attracted many young people and many new members. Youth for Peace started with couple of young people who shared the same passion for coexistence and desire to make change in their community and whole Bosnian society.

Today, for years after Youth for Peace counts 43 members, 43 young, active, dedicated people who share their passion to live together, to contribute to this society and strenghten its capacities and potentials. This was a reason for us to gather on Saturday, 17th of February 2018. in the restaurant of Jewish community in Sarajevo and celebrate our 4th birthday and all the successes that, together, we managed to achieve.

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In hotel Level Up on Trebević from October 6th until October 8th 2017, Youth for Peace staff retreat was held. This meeting gathered 30 members of the organization, who met there to talk about past activities of Youth for Peace, but also to work on future plans.

The first day of the retreat was reserved to reflect on the past activities, i.e. those that were realized in the period from last year retreat that was also held in October, until this year retreat. Members also made their individual reflections about their participation in past activities, their involvement in the work of Youth for Peace, and they also had a chance to express themselves in which fields of the organization's work they see themselves in the future and how much they want to progress in these fields.

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