The GPPAC process in Western Balkans is coordinated by the Regional Secretariat, which is held by the Nansen Dialogue Network. For more information on GPPAC in the region, contact:

Ms. Tanja Popovic

Nansen Dialogue Centre Serbia
Bulevar AVNOJ-a 105/16
11070 Novi Beograd
Serbia
tel: + 381 11 31 30 792
tel/fax: + 381 11 31 30 791
http://www.bncserbia.org.yu

To read more about the activies of GPPAC in the Western Balkans region, please click here (in Serbian).

The process of reconciliation in the Balkans was initiated by individuals trying to re-establish cultural and economical links. NGOs dealing with return of refugees and legal issues connected to the property contribute to it as well. It took some time before officials started dealing with it on the highest level. As a result several trade agreements were signed; country leaders have held regular summits on security and cooperation in the Balkan region.
As far as the situation on peace initiatives inside each country of the region is concerned it differs from country to country. While highest level of politicians supports it openly, main obstacles are attitudes of local politicians and acceptance of the initiative by wider public is small places.

According to the representatives of each region, some of the problems are: many organisations are working on democratisation and education, not that many on peacebuilding and conflict prevention; there are a lot of organisations working on the grassroots level, it is not easy to reach top levels of society. The overall impression is that links between different levels of society does not exist or are not stable. In order to work efficiently on the issue we will have to establish strong cross-border links between NGOs, INGOs and politicians on different levels of society

Regional initiator

The Nansen Dialogue Network was asked by ECCP to take on the role of regional initiating partner in the Balkans during the summer of 2003. There are 9 offices in the region of former Yugoslavia working on inter-ethnic dialogue and cross-border cooperation.
As the objectives of this process coincide with those of the Nansen Dialogue Project and would enhance efforts to improve the efficacy of dialogue and work for interethnic reconciliation the NDN accepted this offer.

Representatives of all Nansen Dialogue Centre offices and 2 partner organizations: Bulgarian School for Politics in Bulgaria and Peace and Disarmament Education Project in Albania have been actively involved in creation of the process for the Balkans region.

Regional Steering Group

The focal points from each country/area (though only one from Bosnia and Herzegovina), the regional coordinator, the central coordinator in Norway and one representative of the partner organisation from each country make up the Regional Steering Group (RSG).

The preparatory phases were bi-lateral and /or local meetings, depending on the respective countries participating in the project leading towards the Balkan Regional Conference.
They were held in the period November 2003 – May 2004.

From May to August 2004 National Conferences were held in each part of the Balkans:

29th – 30th April in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mostar
1st – 2nd Apr in Bulgaria, Sofia
15th May in Albania, Tirana
28th – 29th May in Croatia, Zagreb
3rd – 4th July in Macedonia, Skopje
6th – 8th July in Serbia, Belgrade
10th July in Montenegro, Podgorica
3rd – 4th August, Kosovo, Ulcinj

Balkan Regional Conference on Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding

The final document comprised of a set of recommendations on conflict prevention and peacebuilding to different social actors that were sent to the relevant organisations (NGOs, INGOs) and institutions (ministries, local authorities bodies, etc.) on the national level were presented during Balkan Conference, 4th – 6th November 2004 in Igalo, Montenegro. Our aim was to create a Regional Action Agenda that reflected conclusions reached on the national levels.

The Conference itself was a three day event bringing together participants from these national conferences as well as other civil society actors and some government representatives, who are working on conflict prevention and peacebuilding.
100 participants were gathered from Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro including Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bulgaria. The Conference and the process leading up to it had the aim of gathering lessons learned, through dialogue and experience exchange, about inter-ethnic dialogue, peacebuilding and conflict prevention and to improve the efficacy of this work in the countries mentioned above.

Topics discussed during the Balkan Regional Conference:

1. Peace Education
2. Transitional Processes and EU Integrations
3. Dealing with the Past
4. Returnees and Integrations
5. Inter-ethnic Dialogue, Human Rights, Minorities, and Human Security
6. Peace Building through Gender Perspective / Women in Peace Building
7. Role of Religious Communities in Peacebuilding
8. Interaction of Various Levels and Actors: International Organisations, Governments, Civil Society Organisations, etc.

Objectives of the Regional Conference and the preparatory work connected to the global program are:

• To fulfil overall objectives for the Global Partnership on the local level in each part of the region where focal points are present
• To strengthen the work for inter-ethnic dialogue and reconciliation
• To establish closer connections between NGOs and INGOs dealing with peacebuilding and conflict prevention
• To connect civil society organisations, with local authorities and state government representatives
• To form an informal network of organisations dealing with conflict prevention and peacebuilding in the Balkans
• To establish cross-border cooperation of NGOs, INGOs and other actors involved in peacebuilding in the Balkans
• To create a Regional Action Agenda, a strategy for peacebuilding and conflict prevention for the coming decade
• To send recommendations (as a result of the Balkan Conference) to UN International Conference 2005. Global Action Plan will be developed on the basis of inputs from all regions

As far as the opening session is concerned, the following individuals were invited:
Mr. Steinar Bryn, the senior advisor of the Nansen Dialogue Network; Mr. Erik Cleven, the Central Coordinator of the project; Mr. Guido de Graaf Bierbrauwer, ECCP; a representative of one Nansen Dialogue office; a governmental representative from the region and Mr. Dan Smith, International Alert, to give introductory speech on conflict prevention.

After the Global Conference

Following the Global Conference: From Reaction to Prevention in July 2005 (at UN Headquarters, NY), Nansen representatives in each part of the region organised consultative meetings with partner organisations' representatives in September and in October. The purpose was to share impressions and important information from the Global Conference, as well as to give suggestions for future activities and talk about capacities of all actors involved in the regional process. As a result, we decided to invite the two most interested representatives from each focal area of the region(Croatia, BiH, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria) to discuss the four priority topics mentioned.

During the meeting, we updated one another about the state of affairs in eight areas of the region: plus Greece (a representative of CDRSEE, Thessalonica). Representatives also discussed their work plans and potential mutual interests to work on joint projects at the regional level. The conclusion was that most of us were interested to work on Education for Peace and on Interaction between various levels and actors on peacebuilding issues, primarily on improving cooperation between local authorities, community and CSOs organisations representatives. So, it was agreed that the working group would draft the project proposal concentrating on seminars for teachers at the regional level.