GARIWO

More than eleven years after the Dayton Agreements, to varying degrees in each of the successor states of Yugoslavia, we find a social situation incomparably worse than at the outbreak of the wars.  Extreme nationalists wield power, suspected war criminals sit in high office, the judiciary is at best completely overwhelmed, at worst extensively corrupt, financial inequalities between war profiteers and veterans and victims have become obscene, criminal organizations murder officials, journalists, and others at will and usually with impunity, and indigence has made corruption a widespread way of life at all levels in society.
All too few are the voices, particularly among the young, to stand up to the ambient pressures to go along rather than oppose a system which shows signs of only very slow,  if any, reform. For the most socially valuable of our youth the choice is between crime, hopelessness and emigration, and their loss will slow down progress even further in the economic, the social and the political domain.

The Project
GARIWO's project "Education towards civil courage" consists of intensive, inter-active courses and seminars to instil civil courage to act against prejudice, bigotry, inhumanity and violence in the rising generation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is designed to educate young people, aged between 15 and 25, about civil courage to stimulate their critical independence of mind, resistance to deliberately divisive ethnic ideologies and their civil engagement in the public arena. The project is unique in its approach. First, the bottom-up pedagogical methodology in which the students, and not the teachers, are central, actively encourages the younger generation to develop their awareness, skills, self confidence, courage and determination to become upstanders. Secondly, by bringing together young people from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as from surrounding countries, the project strengthens the youngsters' civic identity, while working on reconciliation and building wide networks and deep friendships. It thus aims to develop a situation in which young people will speak up against dividing negative authorities and instead act together to influence the development of their societies and to improve their collective living conditions. Thirdly, GARIWO experiences leads toward pilot study of educating of educators to develop their awareness, skills, self confidence, courage and determination to become upstanders and inspiration for students whom they teach.