Registration Open: May 23-June 1, 2024 Catalyze Peacebuilding Pilgrimage

We are very excited to announce that our registration is open for individuals and small groups to come to Bosnia & Herzegovina on our Spring 2024 Catalyze Peacebuilding Pilgrimage. 

Dates: May 23 – June 1, 2024
Cost: $1600 
(includes food and lodging, travel within BiH, honorariums for workshop leaders and guest speakers, excursion and team building activities, and museum entry fees; does not include travel to or from BiH)

In our hyper-diverse and globalized world that is rife with conflict and division, peacebuilding is a felt need in our families, communities, and wider society. Sustainable peacebuilding in our family, communities, and wider society requires a holistic approach that involves everyday people like you and me. This peacebuilding learning pilgrimage combines groups of foreign and local participants who learn together from local peacebuilding practitioners about challenges and successes in their peace work, because by including and valuing the voices of local participants, this approach empowers local populations in conflict-affected zones like Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) while simultaneously creating a lasting impact on participants from foreign countries. If you would like to learn more, read The Dual Impact of Local-Inclusive Peacebuilding Learning Pilgrimages.

The Dual Impact of Local-Inclusive Peacebuilding Learning Pilgrimages

In a hyper-diverse and globalized world that is rife with conflict and division, peacebuilding is a felt need in our families, communities, and wider society. Traditional approaches to conflict resolution often focused on political strategies and the most visible leaders, but there is a growing awareness that sustainable peace requires a more holistic approach that involves everyday people like you and me. One innovative approach that we are leaning into at Peace Catalyst International is the idea of a “peacebuilding learning pilgrimage” that includes active local participation. This transformative experience combines groups of foreign and local participants who learn from local peacebuilding practitioners about challenges and successes in their peace work. By including and valuing the voices of local participants, this approach empowers local populations in conflict-affected zones like Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) while simultaneously creating a lasting impact on participants from foreign countries.

Nanovic Institute Trip Reflection: “Religion, Identity, and Peace at the Periphery of Europe”

This May, Notre Dame professor Dr. Mahan Mirza and PCI President Martin Brooks came to BiH with 14 Notre Dame students on the Nanovic Institute for European Studies trip, Religion, Peace, and Identity at the Periphery of Europe. The Notre Dame students included undergraduate and graduate students from Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Nicaragua, Spain, Pakistan, India, and across the USA, from religious and nonreligious backgrounds, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, and agnostic. An additional 11 Bosnian university students from Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Modriča, Travnik, Zivinice, Gradačac, and Mostar joined the learning group after a few days and for the duration of the trip. 

These 25 students had the chance to learn from numerous local Bosnian peacebuilders and social scientists about Bosnia and Herzegovina’s rich history of peacebuilding, competing ethno-religious narratives, trauma and cycles of conflict, and issues of identity. Several speakers commented on how diverse the group was and that it felt like they were speaking to a UN gathering. Throughout the trip, passers-by  approached me and asked, with a bit of longing in their voices, “Where are you all from?” Our group’s noticeable diversity seemed to recall the (less visible) historic diversity and common life that the vast majority of Bosnians wish they could experience once again in their country.