Dear friends, 

The application procedure for this year's 5th Post-Yugoslav Peace Academy has been closed on June 1st. We have received more then 170 applications. Our selection team is currently in the process of choosing this year's PYPA participants. All those who have applied will be noticed about the selection procedure on June 11th. 

We thank you for your interest in this year's Post-Yugoslav Peace Academy. 

GrožnjanMiramida Center - Regional Exchange of Peace Experience is organizing the 6th consecutive retreat for activists from the Former Yugoslavia.  The retreat will be held from 5-10 July 2012 in Grožnjan in Istria.  

The deadline for applications is 14 June 2012. 

More information about the retreat for activists, a detailed program and instructions about how to apply, follow this link.  

mirovnenovostiWe'd like to announce the publishing of the latest edition of Peace News for April-May 2012.  To download the PDF, follow this link. Enjoying the reading!.

In this edition:
- Strategy for establishing an encouraging environment for the development of sustainable civil society in BiH
- IPA programming and participation in civil society
- Establishment of a genocide video archive
- Invitation to this year's Post-Yugoslav Peace Academy
- Campaign for equality for all - a month of Roma women's activism
- and much more

 

Essays

Videos

Ubleha for idiots

  • Report

    Very often, the only true product of an NGO activity.  A very detailed description of everything that was not done in the project (See) so that it looks like it was done perfectly. It obligatorily includes the financial aspect where all the money spent is justified as if it was spent for perfect results (See).  It is important to list all possible indicators (See) of success: it is compulsory to name some benign problem (for example, the obstruction of the local nationalists, natural disasters, weird local customs, unrealistic requests and exaggerated expectations of the beneficiaries (See) or participants (See), etc.) in order to enhance the authenticity of the report. Any problem is justified by force majeure   and may even serve well to justify the exceeding of the budget.

from Ubleha for Idiots – An Absolutely non useful Guide for Civil Society Building and Project management for Locals and Internationals in BiH and Beyond by Nebojša Šavija-Valha and Ranko Milanovic-Blank, ALBUM No. 20, 2004, Sarajevo, translated by Marina Vasilj.