From March 27–29, 2025, educators, youth workers, and representatives of civic society gathered in Osijek for the final conference “Hard Topics”. The conference was organized as part of the Eramus KA2 project “Hard Topics”, financed by the European Union, and led by the organization “Socialna Akademija” from Ljubljana, Slovenia. Other than the partner organizations, the conference was supported by the local partners DKolektiv and Politike Nenasilja. The event aimed at promoting dialogue and non-violent communication, and disseminating the project results.
During the first day of the conference, the participants had the opportunity to get to know each other. They learned more about the activities carried out by the local partner DKolektiv. Their hub, Društveni Atelje, is designed not only as a working space for the association, but also as a meeting place for the community and young people of the city of Osijek, to promote dialogue and civic initiatives. Starting from the good practices of the local partners, the participants exchanged good practices based on their experience and work with dialogue and youth work.
The following day, the project coordinators presented the project, its aims, and the activities held during the previous year of the project. They introduced to the participants the website “Hard Topics” designed to facilitate interpersonal dialogue, based on a system capable of matching the most diverse answers to a questionnaire directed at the public. This system can also be adopted by other interested users for their own activities, and it’s undoubtedly useful to promote constructive discussions between two divergent opinions that are difficult to conciliate. Representatives of Documenta presented to the public the recommendations for dialogue in formal and non-formal education, created in the context of the project, and commented on them with the participants.
Later in the day, partners from Politike Nenasilja conducted activities aimed to foster dialogue among people with different opinions. Through these tasks, participants were able to understand how non-violent communication is the basis for dialogue between divergent positions. The division into small working groups allowed for greater interactivity and participation, making everyone feel part of the project. The first part of the workshop dealt with the topic of polite interpersonal communication: the activity was conducted in pairs and everyone could understand the meaning of objective description without judgment towards the others. The second part of the workshop focused on real-life cases, and the participants, divided into smaller groups, exercised their communication, listening, and dialogue skills.
Through the conference, participants had the opportunity to engage in peer-to-peer learning, reflecting on their experiences and methods for fostering dialogue in diverse educational settings.
