An Attempt at Grassroots Civilian Peacebuilding in Croatia July 1993 - March 1997. Research Report to DFID
Abstract
The Volunteer Project Pakrac (VPP or ‘the Project’) took place in the town of Pakrac, Croatia from July 1993 to March 1997. It was led by the Anti-war Campaign Croatia (ARK) under the security and political umbrella of the UNOV Pakrac Social Reconstruction Project (UNOV PSRP) - an ad hoc structure within the UN Office Vienna. Almost 300 Croatian, Serbian and international volunteers worked on the Project in rolling teams of ten or so during its life, at a monthly cash cost of just around 10,000 Deutschmarks (around £4000). The Pakrac Project consequently became a major learning experience for a generation of local and international peacebuilders. Its lessons have been passed on by the direct involvement of ex-Pakrac volunteers in similar projects in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Only two short commentaries had been written about the Project, covering only its first two years. This study was therefore designed at the suggestion of the Centre for Peace Studies (CMS) Zagreb. Its aim is to help the grassroots peacebuilding movement in Post-Yugoslavia to refine and develop its ongoing, groundbreaking work by drawing out and disseminating the lessons of the seminal Pakrac Project
Citation
12 pp.
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