In the period from 28th to 31st of July, 2022, the first meeting within the project Y.A.P. – Youth Advocates for Peace was held at the Hotel Monti on Igman. The meeting brought together young people who are active in the civil sector and work with young people through various programs. The training included topics from the field of peace education and advocacy for peace. During the training, topics from 3 areas of education for peace were covered: Intercultural education: Identity, who we are, a plurality of identities; The role of stereotypes and prejudices in conflict and peacebuilding; Conflict resolution education: Introduction to conflict transformation: positions – interests – needs; Debate vs. dialogue - dialogue as a tool for conflict transformation; Interreligious education: Religion and peacebuilding; Religious literacy as a way forward; Interreligious dialogue as a tool for conflict transformation and the path to peace. 

In addition to this thematic part, participants had the opportunity to learn about facilitation through meta-reflections on the workshops conducted by experienced facilitators in the field of peace education. The participants learned about specific methods and approaches used in peace education, which are necessary for the process of peace education to be complete both thematically and methodologically. In the second part of the training, participants learned about advocacy for peace and discussed what advocacy is, what methods are used in this process, how to create advocacy campaigns, and what examples of advocacy for peace are present in the world, with special emphasis on the Balkans and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The project "Y.A.P. - Youth Advocates for Peace" is supported by the European Youth Foundation - Council of Europe. Implementation of this training is also partly supported by the Ecumenical Women's Initiative.