On March 12th 2022, Rotaract Club Sarajevo hosted the “Rotaract Peace Conference”. Conference had 3 sessions, “Bridging Cultures through Dialogue”, “HARMONY Project” and “Peacing” It Together.
In 2021, SANCHILD has implemented the first “HARMONY Project” in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which included 1 week of “Train the Trainer” and 17 Local HARMONY Projects implemented by our 19 trainees.
We were honored to present our achievements and the future of our work during the “Peace Conference”. Our keynote speakers were: Amela Brcaninovic (HARMONY Project Manager) and Dajana Sumar and Ena Kozo (HARMONY Trainees).
Amela presented the HARMONY Project platform, the objectives of the training program, the achievements of the Local HARMONY projects, and the long-term vision of continuous work on transforming societies to create a more peaceful and harmonious environment.
Dajana and Ena collaborated during the implementation of the “Serendipity” project, implemented in Bihac, to empower and support young teenage girls from the local community and the temporary refugee center “Borici”. During this project, 18 girls worked with psychologists and teachers on overcoming fears, traumas and developing habits in using learned techniques to increase-self compassion, self-love and protect themselves from the challenges imposed during their development.
Ena Kozo implemented her own project “All you need” online, teaching participants mindfulness techniques, important for handling everyday stressors.
Just like the HARMONY Project changed my life, it is evident that this approach and attention changed theirs. My goal is to continue this work in the following years and grow this project, because it is important to teach young girls, in the early stages, how to handle their emotions, love and protect themselves from the outside world and even from themselves.
If we have an upset mind, always full of anger and ill will how can we give peace to the world? We cannot because we have no peace within ourselves. If we, as individuals, make the smallest step towards becoming more even-tempered, patient, compassionate, and kind, each one of us has the power to contribute to the peace in the world we live in.
This is why is important to use a human-centric approach, where we give attention to every individual and support them in making positive and peaceful changes in societies.