Corridors is an initiative that aims to foster dialogue and cooperation between societies from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the European Union. Together with local partners, we develop joint learning and capacity-building opportunities in the field of formal and informal peace education. A specific focus and key competence of Corridors is the facilitation of cross-regional dialogue and cooperation around protracted conflicts in the post-Soviet space and beyond. We develop and implement projects that enhance knowledge transfer and create new opportunities for direct people-to-people contact across the conflict divide. Therefore, joint education and academic cooperation are used as tools to revitalise exchange and cooperation between conflicting sides. In a cross-regional framework, we strive to facilitate cooperation between academic and civil society stakeholders to revitalise dialogue between communities. Corridors aims to enhance awareness and understanding of the context and dynamics around protracted conflicts in specific regions and on an international level. Corridors is designed using a cross-thematic approach, linking capacity building and cooperation in the field of formal and non-formal education with dialogue activities in an innovative way.
OSCE Network Report on Cross-Regional Corridors for Dialogue
From 2018 to 2019, Corridors, together with the Tampere Peace Research Institute (TAPRI), implemented the project "Cross-Regional Corridors of Dialogue" within the OSCE Network of Think Tanks and Academic Institutions. The project pursued three objectives:
- Identify the main structural, social and political obstacles for civil society dialogue and conflict management in protracted conflicts.
- Develop further the concept of cross-regional corridors for dialogue as an approach to bypass these obstacles and to support peaceful conflict management.
- Generate concrete ideas to revitalise knowledge exchange and direct-people-to-people contact over the divide and to improve local ownership and inclusiveness of dialogue processes.
The now published report is based on the findings of three workshops with international experts and local civil society actors, research results of the project team, and the longstanding experience of Corridors in the development and facilitation of cross-regional dialogue.
Corridors Summer School
On the first week of September we held our Corridors Summer School “Building Capacities for the Development of Peaceful Communities” for 24 students and young professionals from the South Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Russia and Germany. The intensive one-week training was jointly conducted by our partners from the project region together with German and Danish experts.
Latest News
OSCE Network dialogue forum in Stuttgart
April 2018, workshop on developing new approaches to support bottom-up peace initiatives in Stuttgart: More than 20 representatives from academia and civil society from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus attended the three-day meeting. Together, we evaluated past and ongoing dialogue processes and identified best practices and lessons learned. Based on their experience, participants developed new ideas for inclusive cross-regional dialogue processes, which will be included in an OSCE Network Report.
Corridors at OSCE Network Workshop
November 2018, Corridors knowledge exchange at OSCE Network workshop in Vienna: Sebastian Relitz presented our concept, experience and practical outcomes during the two-day OSCE Network workshop "Cross-Regional Corridors of Dialogue: Developing a Complementing Track for Transforming Long-Standing Conflicts". During the workshop, various OSCE officials, international civil society stakeholders and academics discussed the recent experience and future opportunities of dialogue facilitation.
Workshop on Peace and Conflict Studies in Sukhum/i
Oktober 2018, Corridors workshop on peace and conflict studies at the University in Suchum/i: During the intensive three-day workshop, the 13 very active students got lectures on the fundamentals of peace and conflict studies and training in the theoretical and practical tools of conflict analysis. The students exercised the knowledge and skills they gained, within case studies from different world regions and applied it to their own conflict setting.
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