On 10 June 2025, the European Cultural Epicenter Bitola (EKE) hosted the Final Conference – “The Missing Peace” at Europe House Bitola, serving as North Macedonia’s national multiplier event within the Erasmus+ project The Missing Peace: Youth, Peace & Reconciliation. The conference gathered 28 participants (9 young people and 17 youth workers) from Bitola and the wider Pelagonia region, with working languages Macedonian and English.
The event was designed to present the project’s overall results, impact and experiences, to formally launch and explain the Missing Peace Toolkit, and to create opportunities for networking, exchange of practices and partnership-building for future youth peace initiatives. Specific objectives included encouraging local stakeholders to adapt and apply the Toolkit in their own contexts and inspiring further youth involvement in non-formal peace education activities.
The programme opened with registration and informal networking (09:30–10:00), followed by a plenary introduction to the project’s goals and activities implemented in North Macedonia and across partner countries (10:00–11:15). This session highlighted the project journey, key achievements and challenges, and explicitly addressed the fragility of peace in the region and the need for sustained reconciliation efforts. After a coffee break, participants were guided through the project website and digital infrastructure, including the e-mapping tool, the online community of peacebuilders, and the Missing Peace Toolkit hosted at the-missing-peace.4learning.eu, emphasising these resources as key instruments for ongoing youth-focused peace work.
A dedicated working block (12:10–13:00) focused on the practical use of the Toolkit, inviting participants to explore how activities could be adapted and implemented in educational, community and grassroots settings. Through structured discussion and a Q&A segment, attendees raised questions regarding the Toolkit’s structure, target groups and real-life application, and shared ideas for using it in awareness-raising, conflict transformation and peace education initiatives. The conference concluded with a networking lunch (13:00–15:00), which provided space for cross-sector dialogue, experience-sharing and exploration of future cooperation possibilities among educators, youth workers and civil society representatives.
Reported outcomes include increased familiarity with the project’s digital and pedagogical resources, strengthened confidence and readiness among participants to apply Toolkit activities in youth, school and community environments, and new connections that support continued collaboration at local and regional levels. Participants expressed interest in remaining engaged through the project’s online community, and the event closed with a shared recognition of the value of non-formal education, community engagement and cross-border cooperation for sustaining peace efforts in the Western Balkans and beyond.
“The Missing Peace” project is co-funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ Program (Pr. Nr.: KA220-YOU-055CD22D).
