1. Case-study No. & Title:
166. Sarajevo-based Center for Non-Violent Action programs training NGO activists and other citizens throughout former Yugoslavia in non-violent conflict resolution techniques (1997–2000 and beyond)

Keywords:

2. Author information
2.1 Author’s Name:
Peter Lippman

2.2 Institutional Affiliation and Contact Details:
Peter Lippman is a staff researcher for The Advocacy Project, based in Washington D.C. www.advocacynet.org). He can be contacted at peter@advocacynet.org

2.3 Date recorded:
27 November, 2000

3. Good Practice Information Sheet
3.1 Local Level Good Practice:
The Center for Non-violent Action trains people to look at alternative ways of solving conflicts rather than through violence. It teaches people to listen to other points of view, and works to break down prejudices and stereotypes. Its basic tenet is that conflict is not something to be avoided, but to be confronted with these and other non-violent techniques.

3.2 Location:
The Center for Non-violent Action’s base is in Sarajevo, but the focus is both local and regional. It plans to open a center in Belgrade in 2001.

3.3 Minority/Target Groups:
Target groups are NGO activists, youth groups, inter-religious organizations, and returning refugees. One thing most of these target groups have in common is that they are ethnically mixed and want to learn to live together better. Many projects have been conducted around Sarajevo, but the focus is regional.

3.4 Major Actors Involved:

3.5 Budget allocated by local government authorities and/or by other actors:
A year’s core funding for the Sarajevo operations of the Center for Nonviolent Action is approximately 100,000 DM.

3.6 Timeframe:
The Center for Nonviolent Action was founded in 1997. It has conducted nonviolence training workshops since that year, and expects to continue its practice indefinitely.

3.7 Local level good practice relation to national level ethnic policy:
The Center for Nonviolent Action was founded as the Sarajevo branch of a KURVE, a German organization. Its staff is composed of Serbs, Muslims, and Croats. At present its programs are implemented locally and nationally from its Sarajevo base. Impetus for these programs comes from local-level initiatives. There is no support or involvement from any level of the Bosnian or Sarajevo government, but neither is there any hindrance.

4. Good Practice Description
Background to the Center for Non-violent Action
Post-World War II Yugoslavia enjoyed 45 years of peace, but since the early 1990s, the Balkans have once again become synonymous with disintegration. Violent means of solving problems have become the norm. The alternative, non-violent conflict resolution, is one of those ideas that is so obvious and simple that it is ignored by those who need it most. Non-violence is simply not a familiar concept in the mainstream culture of the former Yugoslavia.

However, here and there around the region organizations have arisen in the wake of the recent wars that are striving to make space for the non-violent approach to be studied and understood. One of the most active of these organizations is the Center for Non-Violent Action (CNA), based in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The focus of this multi-ethnic organization is region-wide, but there are many local applications. This report will primarily examine the local activities of the group.

CNA staff member Adnan Hasanbegovic describes the goals of the organization: ‘In the societies of the former Yugoslavia there is an infrastructure of violence that includes the army and the governmental bureaucracy. We are trying to teach people a non-violent way to behave in relation to that infrastructure. We try to work interactively so that our efforts are not one-sided, but include all parties. The goal is to develop a culture of dialogue that is missing in this region. People state their positions without being interested in listening to or respecting another person’s opinion. We are working on the basis of respect for human rights, and we try to encourage civic activism.’

Origin of the Center for Non-violent Action and its Goals
The Center for Non-violent Action was formed in the fall of 1997 as the Sarajevo office of KURVE, a German organization that promotes education and development of networks promoting non-violence. The CNA’s main work is to conduct training programs for groups of people who wish to learn the principles of non-violent conflict resolution. CNA’s target has been community-based NGOs, as well as teachers, journalists, members of political parties, religious figures, and professional groups. These targets lend themselves to one of the goals of CNA, ‘multiplication,’ i.e., the further spreading of its teachings through a ripple effect.

Non-violence is not merely a negative principle referring to the absence of violence. Mr Hasanbegovic explained, ‘It is a positive tool with concrete techniques. These include: active listening; ‘I’ speech (not accusing); development of teamwork for decision making; and making attempts to understand the other party through paraphrasing what they have said. These are all skills of non-violent communication.

‘Non-violence involves having an active relationship with conflict and with the world in general. I try to affirm myself and you at the same time, and to have an open understanding of where we are similar, and where we are not. This is not a passive attitude. We do not avoid conflict, but we confront it in a non-violent manner.

‘We are encouraging people to be involved in social activism. We try to analyze the political situation and to increase cross-cultural communication. We examine ethnic and social conflicts as well as political conflicts.

‘There are many motives for our work. Essentially, we are trying to contribute to the building of civil society. We want to spread the idea of non-violent conflict resolution, and to affirm a culture of dialogue in this region. After the last war, we see the need to look at conflicts in a new way. For example, to increase acceptance of other cultures. We want people to re-examine values and to think about new ways to approach problems.

‘I was in the army here [in Sarajevo] during the war. But I know that the only way we can really overcome conflicts is through dialogue. I feel that we in Bosnia have not tried to exchange views of the conflict among the ethnicities. This is a good thing for political stabilization and construction of civil society.

Practices of the Center for Non-violent Action
CNA has two levels of training: basic and advanced. The organization runs three basic non-violence training programs each year, each one reaching approximately 20 people from all the countries of the former Yugoslavia except Slovenia.

A typical training workshop run by CNA will discuss most of the following topics:

 

w	understanding of conflict
w	creative conflict transformation
w	non-violent communication
w	mediation
w	teamwork under stressful conditions
w	gender issues
w	consensus
w	leadership
w	power
w	prejudice
w	identity

The advanced courses train people who will become new trainers. These people are chosen from those who participated in the CNA’s basic training. CNA is also in contact with similar groups in Belgrade, Zagreb, and Mostar, so people who passed basic training in other places are also able to join the advanced workshops. These people will then teach non-violence courses elsewhere, or apply the principles to their own organizations.

In the second level of training there are five phases. The first phase is a ten-day training, which deepens the theme of non-violent communication. In subsequent phases, participants create and lead their own workshops. CNA exchanges ideas with the trainees about themes for the workshops and the role of a trainer. Concluding the advanced level, trainees make concrete projects, with input from CNA. CNA helps to find funding for the projects and implement them.

Mr. Hasanbegovic reported on the fruits of this training: ‘Based on the last two years’ work, we have a list of 25 people with whom we have contact. We network with them and help them. Most of these people are doing similar further work in their own organizations. Some of them work with us, and some of them start new organizations. Some have gone to Kosovo to work with refugees, or to Serbia. There are various applications of the practice of non-violence.’

The basic and advanced non-violence workshops form the core of CNA’s work. But CNA is also invited regularly to give training workshops by organizations such as UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) or CRS (Catholic Relief Services). The organization will then give two or three workshops, or find people to give them.

Programs of the Center for Non-violent Action
The Center for Non-violent Action has created an impressive record of accomplishments over the past few years. A partial list of these includes:
- CNA conducted several one-day workshops for the Catholic Relief Services as part of their program, ‘Connecting Families.’ The goal of the project is to connect families who are returning to their pre-war homes with those people who have stayed there or moved into the area during or after the war, in order to cultivate trust among them.

- A youth organization in Zavidovici (central Bosnia) included a workshop on ‘Tolerance and Minority Rights’ provided by CNA.

- In late 2000 United Methodist Committee on Relief engaged CNA in to work in a youth center where young people of various ethnicities are present. Young leaders from among these people are being trained to become non-violence trainers.

- CRS works with a network of ten centers in Bosnia and Herzegovina to promote refugee return. In the summer of 2000 the organization brought members of different ethnicities together at these centers and invited CNA to train them. Mr Hasanbegovic said, ‘This led to good results. We helped to reduce tensions between the ethnicities, and to develop a spirit of reconciliation. CRS was pleased with the results.’

- NA worked on a project in Pale, a Serb-controlled town near Sarajevo, where some displaced Muslims have been returning. There, CNA worked with 16 people – ten Serbs and six Muslims – and trained them. As a result of the training this mixed-ethnicity group of people formed teams to create various kinds of work projects together. For example, some of them started a hair salon, others a farming projects, and others opened up a store.

- One of CNA’s partner organizations is ‘Abraham,’ a Sarajevo-based group that promotes inter-faith dialogue. CNA has conducted several seminars for Abraham with people from different religions working together. The seminars cover issues including minority rights, religious freedom, and joint projects of religious institutions. Mr Hasanbegovic reported on one program, ‘The workshop helped people to demystify each other’s religions. It was an affirmative experience. I find compatibility between non-violence and religious tenets. That seminar has expanded exposure of our ideas, which are spreading to other religious organizations around Bosnia. We have given workshops at Catholic monasteries, some of which have been attended by Muslims. So this increases inter-religious dialogue.’

In addition to these local programs, in April of 2000 CNA held a pilot international Balkan-wide non-violence training session. This was a ten-day course in English, and it included Romanians, Bosnians, Turks, Macedonians, Greeks, Bulgarians, and Albanians.

Center for Non-violent Action’s Partners
CNA collaborates with many organizations in Bosnia. Both international governmental agencies and international NGOs request CNA’s services, and domestic NGOs often collaborate closely with CNA. A partial list of these organizations includes:

Abraham
ANIMA Women’s Association - Gorazde, BiH
Catholic Relief Services
Centar za informisanje i podrsku nevladinih organizacija - Sarajevo, BiH
Helsinki Citizens Assembly in Banja Luka
'New Hopes' (Nove nade).
Office of the High Representative, Legal Department
OSCE
Pax Christi - Banja Luka, BiH
QPS - Sarajevo (Quaker Peace and Service)
Schüler Helfen Leben - Sarajevo, BiH
UMCOR
UNDP

Funding
CNA is entirely supported through donations. The organization’s policy is to have multiple funders. The largest proportion of funding comes from German organizations. UMCOR and CRS pay for the workshops that they invite CNA to conduct. CNA does additional fundraising for its core training programs. In this way CNA receives part of its costs, and then it supports the rest of the cost of these programs through honoraria that it does not keep as payment.

An average year’s core budget is around 100,000 DM for the Bosnia operations. In addition to this, each basic training costs around 30,000 DM.

A partial list of funders includes:
Berghof Stiftung & Berghof Institute for Creative Conflict Management
CARE International - Civil Society Department - Banja Luka
CNA Support group Hamburg
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Regional Office Sarajevo
Know How Fund
OSCE Civil Society Department Sarajevo
OSCE Democratization office - Sarajevo
Quaker Peace and Service
Royal Norwegian Embassy Sarajevo
Schüler Helfen Leben
Westminster Foundation for Democracy

Problems
Naturally, one of the ongoing problems that CNA faces is funding. Although CNA has multiple funders, it is still a struggle to keep going financially. In 2000 CNA deemed the Balkan-wide pilot project very important, but only received around 60 per cent of the necessary funding for it. The organization took money from other projects to support this one, and consequently worked without pay for a few months after the program was held.

Sustainability is another problem, because CNA staff, like many NGOs in Bosnia, work without a promise of long-term security. Good workers are tempted away by much better-paying jobs with international organizations. The strength of domestic NGOs is precarious in any case, because the roots NGO movement only go back to the wartime and even post-war period. Given this, the culture of volunteer activism in Bosnia is under-developed, and NGOs are often considered to be nothing more than a way to make a living.

Problems with travel have affected the international work of the organization. During the Balkan-wide pilot project, a participant from Kosovo was not able to come to Bosnia because of the perceived danger of travelling.

Outreach to certain areas of Bosnia, especially eastern Bosnia and eastern Herzegovina (both in the Serb entity), as well as western Herzegovina (predominantly under Croat control), has been limited. In these areas the nationalist organizations have their strongest influence, including control over the media. Mr Hasanbegovic said, ‘It is hard to make connections there; there is a poor atmosphere for this kind of work. We have tried but not succeeded to make connections. We were even in Trebinje [eastern Herzegovina], but it didn’t work. The organizations we made contact with were essentially government-supported institutions.’

Center for Non-violent Action’s Plans for the Future
In late 2000 CNA had several new projects in the planning stage or already underway. The most ambitious one is to start a new office in Belgrade. This office would be the center of operations for outreach into Macedonia and Kosovo. In preparation for this, two long-time CNA staff members went to Macedonia in the fall of 2000 to research possibilities for construction of a non-violence network there and in Kosovo.

Besides this outreach, CNA will continue to hold basic and advanced training sessions and bring new volunteers into its office. It is also preparing to publish a non-violence training manual, the ‘Handbook for Trainings in Non-violent Conflict Transformation.’

Contact Information
Much more information about the Center for Non-violent Action can be found on its web site, at www.nenasilje.org. CNA can be reached via e-mail at cna.sarajevo@nenasilje.org, and by phone at +387 33 440 417.