Nowadays activism is playing a major role in making changes, and fortunately, Kosovo has a lot of young, motivated, and hardworking activists who, through their dedication continue making positive changes in their community. #RCT never misses the opportunity of bringing closer to people every positive and inspiring story.
In our third podcast episode for this year, we were pleased to have Nevena Radosavljević as a guest. Nevena is a coach in the field of reconciliation, peace building and conflict transformation, and dialogue building. At the same time, she is engaged with academic research. She finished her Bachelor’s studies in Belgrade and continued her master’s degree in Germany in the program for peace and security, whereas now she is a doctoral student at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany.
She grew up in Leposavic, where her family still lives today.
Her long-time experience in civil society in Kosovo starts in high school, through attending different training even though as she says, back at that time there was passive participation. In the last six or seven years, she has been more involved in activism and in the process of building peace and reconciliation in Kosovo. Though out the conversations she shared with us what motivated her on being an activist, as she stated “This may sound contradictory, but I always believed in the power of non-formal education, that’s why now I am a coach in the field of non-formal education. The idea of non-formal education of the civil society is more approachable and important, while for older generations may seem confusing, but it offers way more alternatives and opportunities, for education and meeting new people”.
As when it comes to reconciliation, she says that reconciliation is experienced in different ways, there is a different experiences of generations. The generations that grew up in former Yugoslavia, for the reconciliation in the way they lived a life before the war, and then for younger generations, as she thinks in most cases, reconciliation means coexistence. As from her personal perspective on reconciliation as she states “Personally for me reconciliation is a healing process, at the personal level, community level, national or global, doesn’t matter, this is a healing process. When I talk about reconciliation I always take as an example a couple who is divorced, but reconciled, not in the sense of living together but living in peace and next to each other. Reconciliation is a long-term process but as she says reconciliation is a process that we must go through, which must involve building relationships, or how it is called in English “acknowledgment of the part”, it must bring something.
She shared with us her message to continue working in reconciliation, and as she states, “I think the process of learning about reconciliation, peacebuilding and conflict transformation is also a personal process, that helps the community life and people individually, so I think there is important to know what people in the place we live have suffered or the war has affected other, in this way we can live better lives together”.
This was the fifth episode of the podcast recording as part of the Storytelling component part of the Reconciliation and Conflict Transformation Activity, other podcasts will be on the way with inspiring and positive stories on reconciliation and the trust-building process in Kosovo.
This event was a part of the Reconciliation & Conflict Transformation Activity, implemented by Community Building Mitrovica and partners from New Social Initiative and Youth Initiative for Human Rights – Kosovo, and supported by the American people through USAID Kosovo.