We kicked off the New year with a kick-off!
OTB had the pleasure of organising and hosting the first EU-CARES meeting which took place in Novi Sad, Serbia, on 12 and 13 January 2023. The meeting was held in the amazing OPENS building which is the legacy of the title European Youth Capital which was awarded to the city of Novi Sad in 2019.
The main aim of the project “EU-CARES EUropean Collective nArratives for Reconciliation trauma hEaling through youth engagement and Storytelling” is to address collective trauma and support the reconciliation process among young people from war-affected countries through storytelling techniques fostering active participation, constructive dialogue and critical thinking. Embedded in the project rationale is the notion that the recognition of different narratives and the creation of new collective ones as a holistic method for fostering youth engagement, esp. among displaced youth, has the power to raise the capacity of youth CSOs to mainstream peace-building best practices.
The project aims to empower and increase the competences of youth workers to contribute to the reconciliation process in the Western Balkans by fostering youth participation and engagement, intercultural understanding and solidarity through storytelling. During the meeting, partners discussed the main aims, objectives and expected results of the project as well as all the quality indicators necessary for the successful implementation of the project.
The first activities of the project are underway, as the partners are working on the collection of best practices and exploration of main narratives on WB conflicts and engaging young people from different regions in meaningful dialogue through different storytelling techniques, by enhancing their social and emotional intelligence to increase mutual understanding and heal collective trauma.
The EU CARES project is implemented by 8 partners from 7 countries: Sarajevo Meeting of Cultures (B&H), CESIE (Italy), IRSH (Albania), IDEA LAB (Poland), NGO PRIMA (Montenegro), Center for Social Innovations Centrifuge (Serbia) and PERPETUUM MOBILE Institute (B&H), led by OTB International.
