INSPIRING STANDPOINTS BY DAMIR HASANOVIĆ

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN system are widely known. However, the fellowship programme I'm currently a fellow with, the Youth 4 Inclusion, Equality and Trust Peacebuilding Fellowship, is one of a kind for this region. Given the Western Balkans' complex and turbulent past, the region remains a hotspot for recurring conflicts and hateful narratives. This fellowship serves as a mechanism supported and fostered by governments, civil society organizations, and the non-profit sector to ensure that these problems are addressed and discussed at the grassroots level.

As peacebuilding fellows, besides peacebuilding education, conference exposure and engaging with other young people, our main role is bridging complex themes and deconstructing narratives for our fellow citizens. Politics, science and other complex aspects of society are usually raw and very complicated languages which cannot be understood and interpreted in the same way throughout societal groups. This is why bringing it to a grassroots level is our main goal, one that is more tangible to someone who might not know anything about peace.

Given the digital age we are currently in, social media is the way to go. Ranging from social media campaigns, documentaries, infographics and storytelling: there are tons of different methods to use. However, in order to cover a much more wider audience, you have to combine these with in-person activities, to ensure meaningful participation with all citizens from all backgrounds.

« A democratic activist cannot afford to be only reactive: it has to be proactive year-round. »

It started a long time ago, but I did not see it like that until I started college. As a kid, I was always the rebel in my classroom, starting up initiatives to fight inequalities and the pressure that was put on us even at such a young age. More recently, what reignited the flame in me was the student protests that erupted in Serbia following the Novi Sad railway disaster in November of 2024. It showed me that life, the single most important value any society should uphold, is not guaranteed within an autocratic system which only values monetary profit and power.

It is a duty of every member of society to ensure their voice are being heard, and I believe counting on other people to achieve that in your name is somehow ungrateful. This is why we need to fight all the time.

A democratic activist cannot afford to be only reactive: it has to be proactive year-round. The people who fear democracy and who want to destabilize societies wait for the people to get comfortable. That's why, a real democratic activist must be an activist 24/7, 365 days a year - on the train, at work, in the household, and most importantly, within their own mind.