Transform, Transcend, Translate

Welcome to TransConflict, an organization undertaking conflict transformation projects and research throughout the Western Balkans

TransConflict Serbia, in conjunction with the Youth Dialogue Programme and the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Studies, is organizing a programme of NATO workshops for young professionals from a variety of backgrounds.

The inaugral workshop, entitled 'The Evolution of Collective Security: NATO in the 21st Century', is supported by the Czech Association for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, Jagello 2000, and will take place in Fruška Gora from 25-26th July.

The purpose of this series of workshops is to stimulate broader debate on and deeper understanding about Serbia’s current and future relations with NATO, particularly amongst young professionals from a variety of backgrounds. The other planned workshops, which will be organised throughout the course of 2009 and into 2010, will explore themes such as the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program, energy security, regional experiences of NATO accession and operations, security sector reform and NATO's relations with the EU and Russia.

The workshops will also contain a skills-building element, designed to strengthen each participant's capacity to communicate more effectively the benefits of collective security. These modules will include contact skills, such as communication, negotiation and facilitation, 'framing' information and decisions, risk comparisons and the persuasive use of facts.

The workshops constitute the first phase of a comprehensive programme of activities exploring Serbia's integration into Euro-Atlantic structures, with selected participants eventually having the opportunity to take part in a series of learning and study exchange visits to neighbouring countries and specialist training centres.

This programme is conceptualised so as to serve as a platform for the development of future leaders and security experts, who will increasingly be involved in discussions about Serbia's future within a Euro-Atlantic collective security environment.

If you are interested in participating in this programme, please send a copy of your Curriculum Vitae in English to office@transconflict.com. As the workshops will primarily be conducted in English, could you also please state clearly your level of English comprehension. All successful candidates will be notified by mid-July.

The Community for Mutual Trust

The active engagement of civil society in security-related issues is a key element of sustained democratic governance of the security sector. The growing acceptance of a broader, de-militarized and more subtle conception of human security – namely, the provision of security as a public good; responsive, transparent and accountable to all citizens – has supplanted the traditional notion of security as the sole preserve of political, security and military structures. As the end-users of public services, citizens are therefore entitled to voice their opinions on security, as well as other issues of concern, to ensure that public resources are efficiently and effectively allocated to meet their priorities. In Serbia, however, there remains a pressing need to systematically involve civil society organisations (CSOs), who have a key role to play in terms of aggregating and voicing such opinions, in security-related affairs.

Accordingly, to improve community relations with the security infrastructure of the Ministries of Defence and Interior in southern Serbia, TransConflict Serbia will recruit a network of CSOs, the Community for Mutual Trust (CfMT), to act as a focal point for both local communities and the respective security elements, in order to improve the level of communication and co-operation between these various actors. The CfMT represents a broad spectrum of constituencies, including Roma, women and the elderly, thereby ensuring that all sectors of society, particularly those traditionally marginalized groups, are given an opportunity to voice their concerns and perspectives, thus broadening both the responsiveness and legitimacy of security policy.

To read more about the Community for Mutual Trust, click here