When you start talking about peace, everyone stands for it, after couple of minutes it stops right there. I think it happens like this because “your work” is not to make it happen, is to let it happen.

I have the pleasure to be one of the participants of YMCA Europe’ Peace Work Institute and just want to shortly share with you what is it about to be part of  this amazing experience. It started 8 months ago, when the first session was held in Tbilisi, Georgia. There was lot of information on unpacking conflict, conflict styles, media awareness, critical thinking, theory of change, digital activism and how we can contribute to the peace building, using all these ways. The first question I did to myself was: How do i promote peace? It’s not an easy question, peace is not related only to me; peace is related to all of us, we all together can build the paths to peace. It doesn’t matter how or which tool do you use to build and keep it; what is it important, to do it with all your effort, putting your positivism, energy and love in building peace. Even in really tiny, small things of our everyday lives, we can contribute and can change our lives, others’ lives.

During these sessions, through theories, best practices examples, experiences sharing, role plays and working in groups, we learn how to think better about what peace mean to each of us and why is it so important to stand for it. We learned how to have more friends, to gain more knowledge, to share informations and to be motivated by other’s stories on building peace.

The best was yet to come and we met on the second workshop in Berlin, one of the symbols of peace. Another amazing experience, friends, learning by the story of this city as well, and of course laughing. We were 30 young people from different EU and Non EU countries, and some of us have similar stories with this city. Everybody could feel that it was something different in the air, this city’ story motivated us more, throughout the session.

For me it was the first time to listen and to understand the “Do Not Harm” approach. DNH field assessments helps to understand conflict at a project or community level. With this you understand which activities divide or connect people, with the objective to minimise harm and support peacebuilding in local communities.

In the mean time, we were divided in Tandem Groups and will learn how to better work together through implementing a project for each group, through art and digital activism for peace! Let’s see what will happen with our group’s work in our communities.

In the end of this session we celebrated the graduation evening, and had our certificates. Wonderful moments with YMCA’ people, within YMCA big family in Europe.

Every day brings a choice, to practice stress or to practice peace! What is more healthy for me, for you, for the community? Let’s guide ourselves to go through walls, borders, to clear our sky.

Peace is it in your hands, you decide what to do, grow it or throw it away!

By Besnik Hoxha, YMCA Tirana – Albania

In the past two sessions of the YMCA Europe Roots for Reconciliation Peace Work Institute (PWI), the participants dealt with the topic of peace in various ways. We learned that peace work is a complex task that needs to be tackled sensitively. In order not to cause any damage in the implementation of a peace project, attention should be paid to different – undesirable – effects during its planning. The “do no harm” approach was developed by the American social scientist Mary B. Anderson. Her central idea is to pay attention to dividers and connectors in conflicts. These may be people or situations that either further divide the conflicting parties or bring them together.

External participants should try to strengthen the connectors and focus on bringing the conflicting parties closer. Therefore, it is important to develop a method during the planning process of a project to assess the positive and / or negative aspects of one’s actions.During the PWI`s 2^nd session we not only got to know this approach theoretically, but also by applying it while planning the peace projects mentioned above. In different working groups we discussed which positive or negative effects our projects may have and what we can do to avoid negative effects. We´re looking forward to continuing the planning processes of the peace projects and, of course even more so, their implementation next year.

By Mona Hein, EJW Germany

From November 12 to 18, 2017, the second seminar of the Peace Work Institute took place in Berlin. In April, approximately 30 participants from about 15 (mostly) European countries had already met for the start of the project in Tiblisi, Georgia. (Read more about)

In the “Roots for Reconciliation” program initiated by YMCA Europe, young adults deal with the topic of “peace” in various contexts.

During the first session in April the topics ‘critical thinking’, ‘digital activism’ or ‘conflict analysis’ were discussed. To deepen this knowledge further related topics were discussed in the second session (e.g. ‘digital campaign work’). In addition, the ‘Do No Harm Approach’ was presented by Dr. Wolfgang Heinrich.

In the coming year, further events will be held on topics related to peace work, all designed by the participants. The time in Berlin was also used to work on these upcoming projects. There will be a camp dealing with the topic “art for peace” in Georgia and a session about “digital activism” in Budapest or Strasbourg. In addition, the seminar “Who am I and who are we?” is planned to deal with different perspectives on nationalistic trends in several countries. It is planned for September 2018 in Germany. Further information will be announced.

The participants also got to know the host city of Berlin in a broad perspective by visiting the Church of Reconciliation located in Bernauer Strasse, the associated documentation center, the Holocaust Memorial as well as the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate.  There were other activities enriching the program like a German-European evening, during which we were joined by some of the volunteers from YMCA Berlin. In addition, every day began with a short input called “message of the day” in which the participants presented inspirational stories, quotes and videos. As a special guest, Mike Will, President of YMCA Europe, accompanied the graduation evening and handed over the certificates of participation.

By Silke Bölts, YMCA Germany

2017, November 12-18. Berlin. Fifty-seven years ago there was a city where its people were over night separated by a long wall. It was in a moment when the country was still recovering from terrors of previous wars. The wall remained there for 28 years and for Berliners and for the whole country it was a start of another trauma.

Visiting Berlin in November was accompanied by “Nieselregen” from a grey cloudy sky which created a very special nostalgic atmosphere. Numerous war memorials were constantly cropped by the water, from time to time shining in the sun. Locals walk among these along tourists without any excitement, except for some contemporary art installations which may raise the interest of them as well. This time there are three buses wisely installed right behind Brandenburger Tor. The buses are in vertical position and are for sure provoking all kinds of feelings in passengers. If you come closer, thanks to the info shield you realize that people used buses like this to protect and defend themselves in Aleppo. In an actual cruel war in Syria. Today we need to put three gigantic buses right into our faces to think about something else than ourselves.

YMCA Europe is gathering young people from different countries in long term project Roots for reconciliation. Its part – Peace Work Institute brings together people from countries which were and unfortunately are in conflict and enables these young entrepreneurs to act exactly where they see it is necessary.

I can not imagine a better place for its second part than Berlin. Group of young active leaders from Armenia, Albania, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Serbia, Kosovo, Turkey, Georgia, Portugal, Russia, Ukraine, Nagorny Karabakh, Croatia, Great Britain and Germany spent one week in Sophienhof, in a loveliest part of Berlin. In a quiet Jewish neighborhood we spent hours by creating the firm base for our future projects. Thanks to the support of Wolfgang Heinrich we received basic knowledge about DO NO HARM. A methodology by Mary Anderson which is used world wide to analyse the environment before implementing any project into conflict areas while trying to decrease the undesired effects to minimum.

As the outcome of this second session three projects have been defined, its dates have been set, the responsible teams were chosen and during next summer we will realize three different tandem projects which aim to promote peace through digital activism, music and theater and we will look closer at the situations in our countries regarding national identity and what it means for us.

Let the summer 2018 come and be sure you are with us!

By Helena Hajkova, YMCA Slovakia

If you asked people about Berlin, you would probably hear about “concrete walls”, the TV tower and Alexa, the famous shopping centre.  In reality, Berlin is more than the TV tower and the Wall. They both represent the time when the lack of peace and freedom of innocent people was an essential part of everyday life. It was a time of struggle for human rights and tearing down the Wall was a venture of the people looking for freedom and dignity. For that reason, Berlin was chosen as the location where the 2nd Peace Work Institute session was held, including 30 young people from 15 European countries who got inspired and empowered for peace work in their communities.

Peace Work Institute – session 2, was held from 12 November until 18 November 2017. During that week, various sessions and workshops have been conducted in order to build a network of young people who are going to promote peace culture and make change in their communities. Participants attended a presentation about the “Do no harm” framework, which is widely recognized as an effective tool for analysing the impact of assistance on conflict.

Moreover, the participants even applied the knowledge they acquired during the project planning which was done in three tandem groups. Each of the groups developed a project on a different topic, applying the “Do no harm” approach. All of the participants agreed on the importance of this experience, mostly because they were given an opportunity to be creative, share their opinions and ideas and simply to be listened to. Finally, it felt wonderful to see the outcomes of the effort the participants invested, which are going to be realised during 2018. The participants were also involved in various carefully chosen games and other activities. Amazingly, each of them found its way to inspire participants in order to embrace this new way of thinking, where peace has a main role.

Although the sessions itself were well-structured, informative and inspiring, the most valuable thing about this project were the people who participated, starting from the organizers, the guests who made a huge contribution and the participants. It is probably due to this spectacular feeling you have when you have another opportunity to see the same group of people you enjoyed working with last time. What is more, Berlin itself added some new sentiments, with its meaning and everything it represents – hope, because walls can be torn down and bridges can be built, both in people’s minds and hearts.

By Josipa Erdesi – Croatia