Third edition of OSCE Dialogue Academy for Young Women concludes in Austria
The third edition of the OSCE Dialogue Academy for young women from Prishtinë/Priština and Belgrade concluded on 15 October 2017 in Stadtschlaining, Austria. The ten-day Academy was organized as part of the Follow Us Initiative, supported since 2012 by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and the OSCE Mission to Serbia, as part of their work to enhance women's participation in dialogue and conflict resolution and decision making processes.
Some 24 women took part in teambuilding exercises, negotiation role-plays, gender-related lectures, and discussions with six assembly members from the Follow Us Initiative. They also visited the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna and briefed the Austrian Chairmanship on past Academy alumnae activities and their plans for future joint actions.
Building on the Dialogue Caravan initiative organized in July 2017, this year’s participants developed a joint project titled “Caravan of Support” for rural women in both societies, which will include exchange visits for women entrepreneurs, a trade fair, a short documentary featuring the daily struggles of rural women and a media campaign.
In addition, the Alumnae of all three generations of the Dialogue Academy in 2015, 2016 and 2017 will develop a joint project proposal for potential donors with the aim to establish an NGO that will work on dialogue and women empowerment issues.
Participant Rina Hajdari noted that projects like the Dialogue Academy for Young Women make a tremendous impact on girls. “We, girls from Prishtina, and our friends from Belgrade, do not have many opportunities like this to debate all the issues concerning our two societies, which are considered taboo. We fought each other almost two decades ago. Now the time has come for peace and co-operation to prevail, to use history as a tool, to talk to each other about women’s collaboration and establish regular interaction,” she said.
“The OSCE Dialogue Academy does much more than empower young women each year. It equips us with concrete skills necessary to make substantial changes for the benefit of our families, communities and beyond, so that we can all move forward towards peace and gender equality,” Maja Davidović, another participant of the Academy, said.