ALBANIA/SERBIA – Within the second RYCO Open Call for Project Proposals, co-financed by the UN Peacebuilding Fund, the Association of Citizens PLANT in Serbia in partnership with ACT for SOCIETY Centre in Albania implemented the project “Young2young”, which took place from December 2019 to November 2020.
The project aimed to contribute to the process of reconciliation and intercultural dialogue in the Western Balkans through capacity building of young people in the field of arts and theatrical performances. Thirty young people, aged between 18 to 25 years old, attended workshops and training, and twenty of them participated in movie and theatrical performances focused on promoting cooperation, tolerance and cultural diversity.
Young people were empowered to break prejudices and stereotypes, and to shape their attitudes towards a more open and tolerant society where diversity and multiculturalism are embraced.
”We connected young people from Serbia and Albania with this project. Through workshops and mutual contacts, we empowered them to break down prejudices about their peers from the region and to understand that they share the same values. All young people who participated in the project have a great desire to socialize with each other and visit their peers in the Western Balkans,” Ms Dragana Vukadinović, Project Coordinator, emphasized.
To engage and empower young people from Albania and Serbia on topics of intercultural diversity, reconciliation and cooperation, the organizing partners and participants of “Young2young” project worked together on the theatrical performances and movie preparations.
”With the performances and movie recordings, we had the opportunity to talk about different cultures and places. During the theatrical performances for example, we walked through Aleksinac, Niš and Prokuplje with stories related to legends or some lesser known historical facts that deal with cultural differences and the beauty of coexistence in our region,” Ms Maja Mitić, Director of Performance, said.
At the conclusion of the project, organizers and participants launched the final movie “Gjurmët” (translated from Albanian as “Prints”), which speaks about the importance of breaking prejudices and negative attitudes of young people towards others in their region and in the societies they are part of. The movie aims to raise awareness of the need for more tolerance, respect and empathy.
To access the full movie with English subtitles, please click the button below:
The project also produced the movie “Verovali – Ne Verovali” (translated from Serbian as “Believe – Don’t Believe”) which portrays the theatrical performance of youth from Serbia as well as their impressions from the project.
To access the full movie with English subtitles, please click the button below: