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“Intercultural dialogue – dialogue for the future” is a project implemented by Group 484, a non-governmental organisation in Serbia, in partnership with Vaša prava BiH Association, a non-profit organisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is a joint effort to strengthen the capacity of young people, promote cultural diversity and intercultural understanding, improve the education system in order to achieve social cohesion, but also to improve dialogue and action for the common good in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia.

The project aims to offer young people, university students, high school students and representatives of educational institutions, an understanding of the presence of different cultures in the two project countries, as a potential for social and cultural development, and not a threat to their own identity.

30 students of social sciences, humanities and arts strengthened their own intercultural competencies as participants of the School on Interculturalism held in October 2020; they acquired first-hand experience in implementing a model of intercultural learning with high school students through scholar seminars.

“We and the Others”, is a series of seminars that engaged young people in addressing different cultural communities and intercultural heritage. Intercultural dialogue is at the centre of bridging different cultural groups and initiating conversations in local communities. A great number of young students participated in the four seminars resulting in identification and understanding of multiculturalism, particularly in their local communities. In promoting intercultural dialogue, the students boldly stepped out in public spaces through various promotional activities based on socially engaged artistic do-it-yourself initiatives.

Although the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restricted the majority of the activities to be in-person, it did not prevent the high school students from participating in the activities online. However, in February, one of the seminars took place in-person in the city of Vranje, Serbia. University and high school students in this seminar were motivated and particularly worked with a group of artists in creating an artistic street performance.

The idea of exploring and discussing intercultural heritage through artistic street performance is an ingenious way of promoting intercultural dialogue and involving the larger community. It was very creative of the young students to make use of the material they acquired during the research on intercultural heritage of their community, in preparation for the artistic street performance.

The street action “Good News Drummers” was conducted on the second and third day of the seminar; the students shouted “news” on positive examples of solidarity, intercultural exchange, and cooperation while playing drums in the streets of Vranje. The distinct playing of drums and costumes worn by the young people was guaranteed to attract the attention of people in various public places in which they performed, and contributed to raising awareness to the significance of intercultural dialogue between diverse cultural groups in their society.

Good News Drummers”, dressed in costumes, encouraged their fellow citizens by reading the good news about “little heroes and heroines” in their performance. The reading would begin with the slogan, “We are fixing bad things, we are good news drummers!”, and the positive reaction from their fellow citizens inspired this group to repeat their announcement several times during the day in various places.

“I participated in this workshop because I wanted to meet new people and get familiar with the new type of artistic performance such as 'Good News Drummers'. Through my previous learning experience and with Group 484, I knew beforehand that this would be innovative and unique, something I would remember for my whole life”, said Andrej Stojanović, student of Technical High school in Vranje.

The project is realized within the joint UN Regional Programme "Dialogue for the Future: Promoting Dialogue and Social Cohesion in and Between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia" implemented by UNESCO, UNDP and UNICEF, with the support of the UN Peacebuilding Fund.

Links

• Good News Drummers in Bujanovac and Vranje And Comic Strip Trip in Loznica
• Group 484
• Vaša prava 

Project

Multi-country Dialogue for the Future - Fostering Dialogue and Social Cohesion in, and between, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia

URL:

https://en.unesco.org/news/serbia-and-bosnia-and-herzegovina-intercultural-dialogue-future-0