Coordination Meeting on Peace Education in the Western Balkans.

The meeting took place in Skopje and brought together 12 Universities: six partner Universities from North Macedonia (UKIM and Mother Theresa University – Skopje, SEEU and TSU – Tetovo, UGD – Shtip & UKLO – Bitola) and new partner universities from the Western Balkans: Albania (University of Tirana and Mediterranean University), Serbia (University of Nis), Montenegro (University of Montenegro-Niksic) and Kosovo (University of Prishtina). The Sarajevo University and universities from Greece and Bulgaria have shown interest to join in the project.

At the beginning of the Millennium, #Center_LOJA set out to reconcile a society deeply divided by the legacy of the Balkan Wars. It all started at the level of informal education, but It did not stop there, though. The experience made us realize very soon that, to transform a society, we must tackle socio-cultural institutions as well. Therefore, we established contacts with local schools and later developed a university curriculum for multicultural education for peace to be incorporated in the syllabus for future teachers. Today, this course is taught in seven faculties in N. Macedonia.

With this meeting, officially we started the process of transferring this curriculum to universities in other Balkan countries. With the wider adoption of the curriculum for multicultural education for peace, formal education for peace would reach a regional level and thus enhance sustainability.

Project team is thrilled to witness the readiness of the involved Universities in this project which has all the potential to become a game changer in the sustainable peacebuilding processes.

Center LOJA has proven to have expertise and credibility as a respected negotiating partner on national and regional level. It was pivotal in founding RYCO, (part of Berlin Process), the READ project, My Hero Balkans and several other initiatives, and now looks forward to the upcoming network that will serve to sustainable peace far beyond education.

This Coordination Meeting is part of the #CivilPeaceServiceProgram implemented by #Centre_LOJA and #KURVE_Wustrow, supported by #BMZ.