From 3rd until 12th of May, in the capital of Lithuania, an Erasmus+ training entitled Peace at War was held. Participants from Georgia, Cyprus, Sweden, Romania, Moldova, Lithuania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina gathered in Vilnius and discussed topics related to peacebuilding. Aware of the situation the whole world faces right now, it was significant for participants to exchange opinions and views and tackle current issues through mutual understanding and respect.

Our participants, Melina, Nasiha, Kemal, and Omer, over the course of ten days, gained knowledge in the fields of human rights, conflict management, and migration. They got familiar with the background of some of the unresolved conflicts throughout history, which consequences we can see even today. As a part of the program, they visited Lithuanian Parliament, where they met with some elected government officials, with whom they exchanged their ideas and opinions. Also, on the last day before coming home, they helped a local humanitarian center to prepare help packages for Ukrainian refugees, who are trying to get back to their everyday lives. Throughout nonformal education and networking, our members made new friendships and contacts. We are also sure that they presented our country and our organization in the best possible light.

As part of the project "Through Religious Literacy to Peace", a seminar for young people was held in Sarajevo from May 5th to 8th, bringing together 15 young people from different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some of the places include Visoko, Busovača, Foča, Bijeljina, Vitez, Novi Travnik, Ključ, Brčko, Donji Vakuf, Tešanj, Pazarić, Zenica, Gračanica and Doboj.

During the four days of the seminar, participants had the opportunity to attend educational workshops held by Youth for Peace facilitators, but also to visit religious sites in Sarajevo and museums that are important for the development of interreligious dialogue and strengthening religious literacy. The tour of religious sites was followed by a reflection on what the participants saw, heard, and experienced in religious sites. In the formative part, facilitators talked with the participants about the basics of dialogue, dialogue in practice, basics of peacebuilding, the connection of religion with peace, violence, and conflict, what is interreligious dialogue, and what religious literacy means, and how we develop and strengthen it.

All workshops were interactive with a participant-oriented approach and encouraged dialogue and involvement of participants in the whole process. Participants were also able to try out what dialogue looks like in practice through the interactive social game "Dialogo" developed by the KAICIID Dialogue Center. During the reflection, the participants expressed great satisfaction with this game and emphasized that in a simple, fun, and interesting way they managed to talk through dialogue about very serious topics that are not always easy to have a conversation about based on the principles of dialogue.

This seminar is just one of the activities of the project "Through religious literacy to peace" which Youth for Peace is implementing with the support of the Ecumenical Women's Initiative from Omiš. In addition to the seminar, the project envisages the development of a manual on facilitating topics of interreligious dialogue and religious literacy with young people and running an Instagram channel through which young people can develop skills of interreligious dialogue and religious literacy in a simple, fun and educational way. The Instagram account has been active for 2 months under the name Religioskop and the activity on the account will continue after the end of the project.

As part of the global initiative "Faith for Earth", in the period from November 19 to 21, 2021, a seminar for young people was organized in Bihać on the topic of ecology, as well as the importance of interreligious dialogue in environmental protection. Fourteen young people from two high schools in the area of Cazin and Livno attended the seminar. During the seminar, young people had the opportunity to listen and discuss the creation of environmental awareness, and the role of religion in this process, the individual participation of young people in environmental protection, and the link between ecology and peacebuilding.

The final activity of the project enabled the active participation of young people and contribute to the local community, through an environmental action of cleaning one part of the National Park "Una". After the environmental activity, participants had the opportunity to visit natural beauties of the National Park, a waterfall "Štrbački buk" where the certificates were awarded to all participants, to the two schools that collaborated with Youth for Peace on the project, Madrasa "Reis Džemaludin-ef. Čaušević from“ Cazin, and the Secondary Vocational School“ Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević ” from Livno, as well as to the management of the National Park“ Una“.

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 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.

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