CIAO DATE: 04/04

ECMI Civil Society Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Supporting Annex 8 of the Dayton Peace Agreement: Development of a Cultural Heritage Association and a Education Programme

Introduction

Since the first implementation meeting in October, the Annex 8 project has moved forward through two complementary pillars of activity. One pillar is the development of a state-level cultural heritage association that can serve as a civil society link among government officials, cultural heritage experts, and BiH citizens interested in protecting and promoting BiH's culture. Participants initially proposed and have continually expressed their interest in the development of such an association since the constitutive meeting. Part III of this report reviews the progress made in this effort, and notes the goals for 2003.

The second pillar of the Annex 8 initiative has been a civil society activity aimed at illustrating how grassroots NGOs can use cultural heritage education as a means of teaching the youth of the country about BiH's unique history. A Travnik-based NGO that has been involved in the ECMI Annex 8 effort since the beginning has developed a model extracurricular educational programme to teach children about culture in BiH. This experience is summarized in Part IV of this document, and could serve as the basis for an expanded similar initiative in 2003.

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