Twelve years after the end of the war in Croatia and the armed conflict between the Croatian majority and the Serbian minority, Eastern Croatia is still burdened with economic hardship, high unemployment rates, and difficult life conditions.  One of the consequences of war is that the multiethnic community has remained ethnically segregated in all spheres of life.  Economic life in the area therefore remains divided between “Croatian” and “Serbian” companies.  Before the war, however, Eastern Croatia was a place where 27 different ethnic groups lived together and shared a common future.  Today, such ethnic differences are cause for division.  Young people live in ‘ethnic ghettos,’ and their existential future is tightly connected to “Serbian” or “Croatian” companies. 

Despite these difficult conditions, the Nansen Dialogue Centre, in cooperation with the Tompojevci Municipality of Eastern Croatia, has been implementing the HP GET-IT trainings for aspiring micro-entrepreneurs.  The course is intended for young people in this multiethnic municipality, with a population that is still recovering from the consequences of the war atrocities in 1991.  The local government recognised the HP GET-IT programme as a basis for the additional professionalisation and development of competitive skills among young people in the municipality.  The Centre is thereby proving to young people in the area that they have common interests, common needs, and a common future, despite coming from different ethnic backgrounds.

Click here to download the pdf version of the Nansen Dialogue Centre's poster