Zagrebačka 69
71000 Sarajevo
Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Arts
- Gender
- Human rights
- International/Cultural relations
- Media
- Research
- Youth and education
PCRC’s mission is to cultivate an environment for sustainable peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the greater Balkans region using creative multimedia projects that foster tolerance, moral courage, mutual understanding and positive change.
In addition to developing our own unique projects, we leverage our expertise to act as independent consultants for local and international groups and actors, including journalists, photographers, academics, filmmakers, non-governmental organizations, educational institutions and others who are interested in carrying out projects that contribute to a brighter future for BiH and the region.
By building a web of relationships, we intend to establish a network that empowers BiH’s internal resources for peacebuilding while helping to maximize contributions made by the international community.
PCRC is working to bridge divides through bringing people together, giving them the space to speak freely and openly about their current issues and problems, and educating them on how to take an active role in instigating change within their local communities.
This work is focused around three main themes:
Youth and reconciliation – illuminating overlooked, positive narratives of interethnic and intercultural cooperation from the past and utilizing them as models of pro-social behavior and catalysts for social change towards other ethnic groups and minorities in the present and future.
Media freedom – challenging the prevalence of skewed media reporting and negative stereotypes within Bosnia’s mainstream media through promoting the merits of independent media, increasing media literacy levels and providing youth with a space free from censorship to share their concerns and ideas.
Gender and peacebuilding – increasing the capacity of women working in the field of gender rights to influence positive social change and peace, with a specific focus on enabling victims of wartime sexual violence address the cultures of impunity and stigmatisation in BiH.
Throughout this work, PCRC specializes in using multimedia to engage, educate and create awareness target groups. Film and photography are not only powerful artistic expressions that can create lasting images in the eye of the beholder, but can also carry important messages and help people visualize and relate to complex issues, characters and situations. As well as using these tools to inspire change in local schools and public squares, PCRC has also screened its Ordinary Heroes documentary series and the standalone documentary Uspomene 677 to over 500,000 viewers across the region in partnership with Al Jazeera Balkans.
Key projects implemented in 2014-2015 include:
Ordinary Heroes
Ordinary Heroes is designed to foster social healing, reconciliation and forgiveness among divided groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This project utilizes photography, film, and educational youth workshops to tell the stories of four post-conflict regions -- Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Rwanda, Cambodia, and post-Holocaust Europe. During periods of moral collapse and genocide existed ordinary people who exhibited incredible courage and compassion to help others at their own risk. Their stories of rescue illustrate the power that love, self-sacrifice, and moral courage have in resisting overwhelming tides of prejudice and violence. PCRC aims to use these narratives as a model for pro-social behavior and a tool to build a social ethic that counters communal violence and promotes healing and forgiveness in divided societies.
Balkan Diskurs
Balkan Diskurs is an independent multimedia outlet that provides young citizen journalists, activists and academics in the Western Balkans with a space free from censorship to publish their opinions, analyses and impressions of the region in which they live. In a media culture dominated by political elites and which seeks to divide rather than unite, Balkan Diskurs offers young citizens from across the region a chance to engage on issues of common concern, with a particular focus on the lack of transparent, objective accurate media.
Regional Genocide Prevention Seminar
In collaboration with the Office of the Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide (OSAPG), PCRC runs an annual seminar to the build the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the Balkans working in the fields of human rights, peace building, and the prevention and prosecution of crimes against humanity. The seminar aims to raise the awareness of factors that cause genocide and mass atrocities and facilitate discussions on practical applications for CSOs to contribute to the prevention of genocide.
PCRC has an extensive network of local contacts throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina, ranging from local officials and authorities to some of the most marginalized communities in the country. First, we will utilise these longstanding relationships to lobby relevant stakeholders to support the ALF’s proposed strategy in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Second, we hope that we can further develop the foundations links with grassroots organizations, activists and officials, enabling the network to better implement its upcoming activities in local communities across the country.
In addition, PCRC will also add to the exchange of ideas and good practices within the network, having won the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and BMW Group’s 2014 Intercultural innovation award, which recognizes recognizes the most innovative projects that promote intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation around the world. PCRC has since received over a year of specialized training in organizational management, fundraising, marketing and project management and evaluation, as well as training in how to replicate and expand small-scale projects.
Membership in the ALF network will help PCRC broaden its network at a local, regional and international level. In addition to contributing our own ideas and experience of good (and bad) practice to this network, we also wish to draw on the knowledge, expertise and resources of those already operating within the network in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as the experience of others within similar fields of work or contexts internationally. Finally, we hope that access to ALF’s network will help provide our organization with long-term stability.