At the end of October, War Childhood Museum Director Amina Krvavac, together with the youth and educators participating in our PEACESTORY project, met in Mostar with Gwi Yeop Son, Regional Director of the United Nations (UN) Office for Europe and Central Asia, Arnhild Spence, UN Resident Coordinator in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Aida Hodžić, Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The delegation also visited the exhibition “City in Traces”, produced and presented as part of PEACESTORY by our creative peacebuilders from Mostar, a team composed of four young women. The exhibition reflects on the city’s ruins, what they mean personally to young people and citizens of Mostar, and what potential they hold for building a more connected and peaceful future.
Photo: UN in BiH
Within PEACESTORY, youth teams participating in the “Creative Peacebuilders” component work across Bosnia and Herzegovina are exploring what peace means to them and their communities. Each of the 20 teams researches a specific topic of their choice, creating collections and exhibitions inspired by their findings. Throughout the process, all participants took part in joint training sessions focused on research and exhibition-making and are receiving ongoing mentorship support for different aspects of their work.
The UN representatives also met with participants in the “Creativity for Peace” component of the program, who have been trained in peace pedagogy methods. Throughout the past year, teachers across the country, together with their students, took part in these trainings. The students, who became peer educators, then went on to lead workshops for their classmates, sharing the knowledge and skills they had gained. So far, a total of 248 teachers and peer educators held 420 workshops attended by 7,874 students, across 53 schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through these workshops, they explore how conflict shapes human experience and seek to cultivate empathy by demonstrating the impact of war on people’s lives.
Photo: UN in BiH
PEACESTORY is implemented by the War Childhood Museum and partners Center for Educational Initiatives “Step by Step”, Association of Highschool Students in BiH, and the Mozaik Foundation, with the support of the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (UN PBF).
