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There is a saying in Greek that good things come after hard work. And here we are to prove it! Through our continuous and persistent work on our media project ‘Okruženje’ (‘Vicinities’ in English) we are one of the four nominees for the European Citizenship Award 2016 in the category “Media Initiative of the Year”.

With our project having just entered its fifth season, we still believe that discussion and sharing ideas  can be a driving force for wounds of the past to be healed and for true reconciliation to be sustained.

The kick off meeting, on 9-11 June in Vienna brought together 12 policy makers, 27 members of civil society, 3 members of Academia and 2 participants from intergovernmental organisations working in the Western Balkans to establish a public-private partnership for the development of history education and innovative pedagogical methodologies. Members of the Special Working Groups met for the first time to set an Agenda for cooperation activities planned for the next three years within the ePACT project.

“Despite animosity, unresolved issues, prejudice and stereotypes, the cooperation of the two countries is possible” Ms Kovac said, attracting the spotlight at the conference ‘Serbia and Albania - Towards a European Future’.

Heading towards the Western Balkans Paris Summit in July 2016, the European Fund for the Balkans and ERSTE Stiftung hosted the Civil Society Forum in Belgrade on May 11-13.

CDRSEE Executive Director Zvezdana Kovac took part in an influential conference on the role of education in preventing conflict, one of the foundations of the CDRSEE, as part of the 20th anniversary commemoration of the OSCE's The Hague Recommendations Regarding the Education Rights of National Minorities.

Extremist narratives and counter-extremism activism in the Mediterranean region were among some of the topics raised in the Regional Youth Innovation Lab that took place in Madrid on the 17th of March.

Honoured and proud, the CDRSEE officially launched its new research project on integration of minorities on March 15, called Communities in Greece.

The Regional History Teacher Conference held in Podgorica this weekend was widely covered in the media and drew more than 60 historians, history teachers and education ministry representatives who had the opportunity not only to meet the editors of the Joint History Project workbooks but also to discuss and voice their opinions on the draft versions of the two new volumes, which are scheduled to be launched for the upcoming school year in autumn 2016.

A kick-off meeting of the CDRSEE and EUROCLIO project ePACT - Education Partnership for Advocacy, Capacity-Building and Transformation took place in The Hague on 18-19 February, sealing our cooperation and the creation of our common project.