The project served the need to create a culture, skills and structures of dialogue and reconciliation on the road to a durable transformation of the Ukrainian society and political systems.

The project aims to foster stability in Eastern Ukraine from the bottom up through legitimate and responsive governance and inclusive political and public participation processes at the local level.

In June 2019, PAX and partner organization Ukrainian Centre for Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and Reconciliation 'Dignity Space' started the project 'Dialogue for Conflict resolution'. This is a continuation of the project 'Culture of dialogue and constructive engagement in Ukraine'. Both projects build and anchor capacity for dialogue in the Ukrainian society and (political) systems.

Overall objective of the activities

Freedom of religion in Ukraine is upheld in a peaceful way, rights of religious minorities are upheld and safeguarded, and mutual understanding and non-violent dialogue between communities of different religious denominations is increased in the context of the recognition of an autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Together with fifteen youth leaders we travelled through Ukraine and reflected on political and personal development. The tour was aimed towards skills development to make a change in society based on respect for diversity.

PAX has gained a lot of experience working in countries dealing with non- or partly recognized entities (Georgia, Moldova and Kosovo). Through inclusive community-building, creation of expert networks, policy advice and analytical work, lessons learnt from other conflict areas in Eastern Europe can contribute to a policy dialogue between different actors within Ukraine (local and national government, civil society and academia) and international actors (civil society and politicians from other conflict areas, OSCE, EU) leading to the development of adequate, effective and inclusive policy and practical mechanisms of dealing with and engaging the non-government controlled areas (NGCA) in the east of Ukraine.

In 2017, PAX’s Gender, Peace and Security (GPS) team established a Gender Pilot Fund to encourage PAX country programmes to implement actions that underpin, boost, and further develop PAX’s focus on gender. The aim was to generate lessons and insights to deepen conceptual and practical awareness of gender-related issues across the organisation and to increase the gender-sensitivity of the different programmes.

PAX works with local civil society to bring citizens together to address challenges of common interest such as poor governance, a weak rule of law and the unresolved legacy of violent conflict.

PAX supports the survivors of the Srebrenica massacre and the next of kin of those who perished. It supports their campaigns for truth and justice, joins in the annual commemoration in Srebrenica and supports were useful dialogue between former Dutch battalion members and Srebrenica survivors and widows, to increase feelings of recognition, foster mutual understanding and to help to deal with traumas on all sides. The Srebrenica Memorial Center is an important partner in all this work.

During the last few years PAX has focused on memorialization and shared narratives in the Western Balkans (Kosovo, Serbia, BiH and Croatia). Inclusive Memory Initiatives are increasingly important for the Western Balkans, as they directly challenge the dominant ethno-nationalist narratives that the political elites continue to promote. 

The search for a truly citizen-centered Europe can only be a joint effort of many: the EU bodies, the EU member states, but also civil society organisations, local governments and local citizens’ initiatives can and must contribute.