The People behind Mediation Efforts in Divided Communities

Thursday, 10th June, 2021, 14:00 – 16:00 CET w/ simultaneous interpretation to/from Albanian, Croatian-Serbian-Bosnian, English

> Please register for this event using the form at the bottom of the page < 

Using specific examples of ethnically separated cities, we would like to give an insight into the challenges people are facing there. While doing this, we will focus on people’s personal experiences, struggles, losses, desperation, and efforts as key for success and change. This panel offers an exchange of views, opinions, and experiences among mediators, peace workers, activists, and citizens committed to building trust in divided communities they are living in. We will start with screening a short video “Cities in Division” focusing on Mostar and Mitrovica.

Central questions: 

• Could cooperation among various communities in areas burdened with ethno-political narratives be understood as one specific way of mediation in contradiction to ‘daily politics’ and heated political narratives?
• In the specific context of divided communities, does it make sense to adopt a very broad understanding of mediation as “talking to other people with the aim to better understand each other” rather than stick to the classical understanding of mediation?
• To what extent can mediation and negotiation as techniques or tools be used in inter-ethnic or inter-community dialogues? Which “mediative skills” are most useful to bring people together in the first place and into dialogue?

Panelists

Vanesa Galić, Project Manager, Nansen Dialogue Center, Mostar

Valdete Idrizi, Founder and former Executive Director of Community Building, Mitrovica

Vladimir Ćorić, Executive Director of Youth and Cultural Center „Abrašević“and Vice President of Local Network „Our Society“, Mostar

Dušan Radaković, Founder and Executive Director of Advocacy Center for Democratic Culture (ACDC), Mitrovica

Elmar Langner, Integrative Mediator and Programme Manager Bosnia and Herzegovina, CSSP Berlin Center for Integrative Mediation, Berlin

Facilitator

Goran Božičević, Mediator, Buje-Buie

Panelists’ Short Bios

Registration