Hands-on Cooperation The Regional Restoration Camps Experience in the Othello´s Tower Conservation as a catalyst for communities working together in the Balkans

To build enduring peace and reconciliation, people must learn to work together. Cultural heritage has an essential role in that it can be a focal point for understanding and generating respect for the values of others. The Regional Restoration Camps (RRC) is a heritage conservation training model that works towards dialogue and understanding by creating ‘safe spaces,’ within which participants focus on learning and applying knowledge — about heritage and each other. The practical works during the Camps are organized in a way that fosters trust through teamwork and achievement—enhancing conditions for personal belief, greater togetherness, and compassion. The camps are planned and implemented so that young professionals and craftspeople, both women and men, from Southeast Europe can meet and learn about each other and their respective cultural backgrounds. By fostering personal understanding, this activity is contributing toward the creation of new cultural polities based on dialogue and works toward preventing conflicts like those the region suffered in the 1990s. Since 2007, Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB) has organized 38 Camps, which have covered topics such as building restoration, artifact conservation, community development, interpretation, entrepreneurship and heritage management. The development of these camps has been supported and encouraged by international professionals, educational institutions and multilateral donors. After ten years of the Regional Restoration Camps, the authors feel that this model can be extended to other areas pre-or post-conflict, as a means of utilizing cultural heritage for peace building and reconciliation. This paper will describe the methodology of the Camps as well as ideas for implementation in other regions of the world.