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Fosting interculturality as a tool of peace-building
Start date: Feb 1, 2015, End date: Oct 1, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

This project stems from the desire of young people from three different countries to leave the world better than they found it. This concern led us to realize an exchange program about historical memory in Bosnia in August 2014. Hence, the idea of continuing to work on peace-building arose, this time focusing on interculturalism and meeting in our country. The project mainly addresses two issues or needs. The first is the need in the Balkans to work on peace-building. Nineteen years after the end of the Balkan War (1992-1995), they experience absence of violence, but not positive peace. The relationship between different cultures and religions which live in the same area is still tense, and young people have the difficult task of rebuilding their countries and their societies while still divided. It is for this reason that the members of the three groups decided to work on interculturalism as a powerful tool for building peace. By knowing and understanding the others, fears and stereotypes decrease, and dialogue is facilitated. This need, however, is not unique to the Balkans. In our country more and more cultures and religions coexist, but there is no broad an general knowledge of that growing diversity. We all share villages, streets, schools, parks, but we know only the façade of the cultures and religions of our neighbors. Moreover, we have the challenge of building a society that embraces difference as an asset, in which people can grow up understanding such diversity and being able to break stereotypes. On the other hand, we were looking for an exchange program that has an impact on the participants and make them spread the message, and applying to their countries and local communities the acquired skills. This would not only extend the reach of our goals, but also create positive and proactive attitudes among the participants, becoming agents of positive change and making them capable of carrying out their own projects. So, with the main objective to contribute to building peace through intercultural work, 66 young people from Spain, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina will meet in the Catalan Pyrenees. During 12 days, they will be participating in workshops, volunteering, and sharing best practices of different organizations which are active in the field of interculturalism, as well as preparing their own activities to transfer everything they have learned during those days to their country.
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