CENTER FOR PEACEBUILDING

OUR WAY IS PEACE

About Us

Dove Peace

Mission & Values

The Center for Peacebuilding (CIM) has been working for nearly a decade in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the motto “naš put je mir” (our way is peace).

History & Context

After the Dayton Peace Accords were signed in 1995 much of the international community assumed peace had been achieved in BiH. Despite the absence of war, however, continued investment in peacebuilding work is paramount today.

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Stories shared
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Workshops done
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Participants

Latest News from CIM

Testimonials

“When I came to the camp, and when we were sitting in that circle, everyone was getting to know each other, introducing ourselves, telling our names to each other. As much as we tried, in the beginning, it was significant when we heard another name that you had not heard before, if it was of a different nationality and ethnic group. However, as time went on, and how we went through some of these workshops, and as we got to know each other later, it was important who the person was. When we teamed up afterwards, it was more important how someone suited us and who he or she was as a person, not what his/her name was or where he/she came from. We had a common goal when we worked in the workshops that meant that everything disappeared which was between us at the beginning, and we worked for a common goal.”

Participant of the first Peace Camp and Caravan

The seminar certainly fulfilled my expectations, because in addition to the already acquired knowledge, I learned new information and methods of facilitation, i.e. Dialogue Facilitation. It is important to talk about this method because it represents the path of education that everyone should take. Readiness to listen to others is already the first step towards dialogue. It’s simple? Unfortunately, every day we are able to see how hard it really is. In a way it also represents the strengthening of self as well as self-confidence, not in order to impose opinions on others, but to be able to communicate without obstacles by respecting each other’s attitudes, while recognizing our own stereotypes and prejudices, and overcoming them. The knowledge of dialogue facilitation is the most important step on the road that everyone should go, building and living in peace. Gaining this knowledge, I consider that dialogue facilitation is one of the key defense mechanisms for all of us that are exposed to a great deal of poisoning as a consequence of a bad system in our country on a daily basis.”

Participant of the seminar ''Dialogue facilitation''

’’From my perception, I do not consider us to be peacebuilders primarily.  A peacebuilder is a person who, under controlled conditions, can behave normally towards other people. If we remain like we are for a year, for a month, we do not continue to develop, learn geography, history, physics, all science anything. If we do not learn, we will not be peacemakers, we will be ordinary people. When I look at you who organized this, you know everything about everything, so let’s just say, it inspires me to continue learning, because it just became clear to me here, I can’t be me unless I continue to develop myself to learn. If I stay in the same place, it just doesn’t work. ’’

Peace camp and Caravan participant

“From the peace camp, organized by CIM, I brought a handful of fond memories and, above all, I added to my world of friends people I am sure should have been there a long time ago and now will stay.
When I embarked on this unexpected adventure, I had no special feelings.  I had little experience and I thought of it as simple open-air camping, a fact that initially interested me the most. I had no idea how much it would change my view of the world and just my existence in it. I learned a lot of things, such as what it’s like to work in the garden, what it’s like to take care of nature, how to do all the other physical activities, but most of all I learned what it’s like to be human, which is what I thought I already knew. I learned how to treat people of all nationalities like human beings, what it’s like to live with people for 7 days,  even people I met for the first time. I learned how easy it is actually to be happy when you learn how to listen to others, how there are people who know they appreciate your flaws and virtues, and how easy it is to be human first and foremost. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire organization for their dedication and everything they have done for all the young people in our country. I hope that this experience will stay with me for a very long time and I look forward to our next meeting. Thank you.”

Peace Camp participant 2020