The association “Nansen Dialogue Centre” (NDC) from Sarajevo is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation conducting research and operating in the domain of peace-building in BiH and beyond, by focusing on the dynamics and improvement of interethnic and other social relations, as well as on the development of democratic practices, especially at the level of local communities.

NDC Sarajevo was founded on 1st September 2000 as a part of the development of the Nansen Dialogue Network in the Western Balkans, in cooperation with the Nansen Academy – Norwegian Humanistic Academy in Lillehammer and The Peace Research Institute Oslo – PRIO, supported by the Kingdom of Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Within our scope of work, we developed a specific methodology called the Nansen Dialogue Approach (NDA). It is a holistic and multilateral method, which is applied through three principal fields of activity: education – work with secondary and elementary schools, local authorities – work with municipal administration and politicians, and social research.

The main tenets of this approach are in-depth knowledge of local issues, neutrality, not imposing ready-made solutions and inclusion of local stakeholders as torchbearers of democratic changes that reflect the needs of the local communities.

Key elements of this method include: creating a space for interethnic (intergroup) encounters as a space for dialogue, facilitating dialogue between the actors involved, using transformative features of dialogue to create a trans-ethnic character of dialogue-action groups consisting of dedicated participants and finally, putting this dialogue into practice through a series of socially beneficial activities. These elements make up a localised process structure (Lederach) of peacebuilding, which through action contributes to the building of a bridging social capital as a central and sustainable potential for social changes.

Certainly, the most visible achievement stemming from the practice of NDA is the case of the Jajce students’ protest against the division of their school along the ethnic lines. By cooperating with the local community in Jajce, primarily with students and their teachers, but also with the local authorities and civil society actors, from 2009 to 2015, NDC Sarajevo took part in the creation of the conditions under which these protests could happen. As a result, we offered active support to the students and their interests.  More details about these protests are available in the case study following this link.

Read more about NDC Sarajevo, its history, activities and achievements following this link.

In terms of achievements so far, it needs to be understood first and foremost that NDC Sarajevo is a process-oriented organisation. This means, the results of actions are gradually shown in medium-term and long-term periods in several well thought out stages and levels.

At the first level, we have created multi-ethnic, gender-balanced and politically heterogeneous networks of the local stakeholders – Nansen Coordination Boards (NCBs) and Nansen Forum of Young Peacebuilders (NFYP). There are also numerous social-political-cultural activities designed and implemented by these networks at the second level. In parallel with the above and at the third level, NDC Sarajevo carried out research projects focused on peacebuilding, interethnic relations, security, youth, gender issues and dynamics between religion and politics.