Our work in Europe

Image: Wikimedia Commons, Julian Nyča under CC BY-SA 3.0 license

Our activities across an ever-changing Europe range from encouraging dialogue to promoting peace through education, to researching radicalisation in and beyond the region.

Spanning more than 20 years, our work in the Caucasus has fostered a deeply engaged network of local partners in an ongoing effort to deal with the past. Together, we have organised hundreds of workshops where participants exchange personal histories, reflect on their perspectives about local conflicts as well as the commonality of loss, and take steps towards forgiveness.

In Germany, we have a long history of involvement with peace education, helping young people to recognise peace and non-violence as important values in their lives. This takes many forms – from actively supporting educators with innovative teaching materials and curricula, to projects that tackle conspiracy theories, disinformation and hate speech, or which answer kids’ big questions on topics like war, violence and peace.

Our research in Europe has included sharing insider perspectives on the political transitions of demobilising non-state armed groups in places like the Basque country and Northern Ireland, or topics such as radicalisation in the Western Balkans, where we’ve explored ways to bolster community resilience and prevent violent extremism.

Past projects

• Turkey: Creating spaces for transformative dialogues in Turkey
  The project brings together like-minded people across sectors and provides the space and the tools for meaningful exchanges on regional dynamics and democratisation in Turkey.
• History dialogue in Georgia and Abkhazia
  We support our partners in overcoming the 'silence on history' that characterises many interactions across conflict lines and acknowledge the grievances caused by violence and injustice on all sides.
• Memory and history as a basis of social reconciliation of Armenians and Azerbaijanis
  We use individual biographical narratives to stimulate reflection and discussion in the respective societies.
• Bosnia: Memory and history for social conciliation in Bosnia
  Through the discussion of individual memories about the conflict escalation we are laying the ground for a deep and empathetic conciliation process between the different ethnic sections within Bosnia.

• Community resilience to violent extremism (PAVE)
  The comparative research project examines root causes and driving factors of violent extremism in local communities across seven countries in the MENA and Balkans.
• Culture of Conflict 3.0
  Using innovative methods, the project strengthens the media and information competence of young people and supports the development of skills, which enable them to critically consume media.
• DesINFORMIERT!
  We raise awareness among young people on TikTok about disinformation and conspiracy theories, strengthen their media literacy, and encourage their participation in democracy.
• ErinnerungsZeit
  Our animated graphic novel invites young people to participate in remembrance of National Socialism. It raises awareness and encourages reflection on discrimination from the past and the present.
• Nexus of peacemaking and constitution building
  The project examines the intersection of peacemaking – with a focus on mediation – and constitution making, and aims to strengthen cooperation between the two fields.
• Peace Counts
  Peace Counts is a unique combination of peace education and peace journalism. It began as an initiative of journalists who travelled to 30+ conflict regions to report about individuals making peace.
• Peace Education meets religion
  This project aims to strengthen the peace education skills and competencies of religious or religiously motivated multipliers working in the formal and non-formal education sector.
• StArt Peace Education!
  The project compiles the latest findings on peace education in German-speaking countries in a state-of-the-art report and podcast and formulates recommendations for policy and educational practice.
• Strengthening EU external support for democracy (EMBRACE)
  The cross-regional collaborative research project analyses blockages to democratisation and identifies ways to overcome them across the wider European neighbourhood.
• Trust-building in security and rule of law partnerships
  With this research project, we aim to contribute to the development of a research agenda on the state of trust and trust-building in SRoL partnerships.
• Youth in dialogue about climate change and sustainable peace
  We are creating virtual dialogue spaces and learning material for young people from Baden-Württemberg and from various world regions, to discuss strategies and visions for dealing with climate change.

Team lead

Christina Horváth-Stenner
Head of Unit Europe, Head of Unit Negotiation and Mediation Support (interim)
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Team members

Izzat Khushbakov
Christine Seifert
Oliver Wolleh

Media contact

You can reach the press team at:
+49 (0) 177 7052758
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