On Monday, October 28th 2013, I conducted the Peer to Peer education activity at Victory College in Prishtina. The reason I chose to present at a university is because I wanted to have the chance to discuss and analyze the main themes of the program with the students majoring in International Relations and Diplomacy. This way, I would be able to have a more interesting and interactive discussion.<\/p>\n
My Peer to Peer activity was divided in three main parts. The first fifteen minutes of my presentation were about the Youth Reconciliation Ambassadors program. I started by introducing myself and continued by explaining the reason why I applied for this particular program. Participants were provided with all the necessary information on how to apply to become a future Youth Reconciliation Ambassador, who organized it, the costs of the program and who sponsored it. It is important to mention that students showed high interest on getting involved themselves.<\/p>\n
I gradually transformed my presentation into a discussion by talking and relating it to the main themes of the program which we analyzed in Belgrade. The topics the presentation was oriented towards were: Europeaness and the Balkans, Ethics and Accountability and Education and Development. Students gladly participated in the debate although I have to admit that they were not as open minded as I expected them to be. I felt a general sense of victimization of one\u2019s self and the need to always blame \u201cthe other.\u201d Thus, I strongly believe that initiatives and organizations such as the YRA are of crucial importance in order to foster the understanding and cooperation among the youth of the region.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the last part of my presentation consisted of a lecture on Bosnia followed by a debate. The initial question I posed to the audience was whether the Dayton Agreement was the best solution for Bosnia or not. Then, I had a very short presentation on the breakup of Yugoslavia, the war in Bosnia and the aftermath of the war. I ended the lecture by opening the debate on the Dayton Agreement\u2019s implications in post-war Bosnia.<\/p>\n
Based on the participants\u2019 inputs during the lecture, I strongly believe that we need to have more public speeches and debates on sensitive issues. The countries of the Balkans have a young, smart and energetic population, so we as ambassadors have to work on channeling all this towards fostering cross-cultural relations for a more developed Balkans and a viable part of Europe.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"