Project Overview | Mission Statement | Project History | Summer 2006
Compassionate Listening

• Conflict resolution and community building
• Sustainable and renewable environmental practices
• Reviving and preserving cultural traditions and heritage

Eco Centre Latinovac provides a healthy and safe environment for learning and practicing skills in community building, non-violent communication, compassionate listening, mediation, conflict resolution, dialog, and reconciliation. Through teaching and learning skills promoting communication, tolerance and understanding we provide an important opportunity for resolving conflict in an atmosphere that affirms our mutual humanity. The skills and activities at Eco Centre Latinovac educate and sensitise participants and the public toward alternative and creative ways of viewing and resolving conflict.

Through teamwork, tolerance, non-violent communication, and respect for all life, we are dedicated and committed to learning from nature¡¦s rhythms and systems as the main base or model for our work. We promote organic agriculture, build awareness for biodegradable materials and waist management, as well as practices to utilize our natural surroundings while understanding and preserving our delicate balance with nature. By making the connection between our environment and ourselves, we are encouraging systemic thinking and creative problem solving in all of our work.

Due to the rich tradition and culture in the Villages in the Pozega Valley, Eco Centre Latinovac serves as a model to promote and revitalize the crafts and heritage held for centuries. Because of the rural nature of small villages, the older generations that still live in them, and the existence of the old tools and infrastructures that have been preserved, they are an ideal place for learning and communicating the wisdom, knowledge, and crafts of the past, while exploring their relevancy and importance in the present and future. In so doing we will preserve, revitalise and learn from the culture heritage of this area, Slavonia.

Eco Centre Latinovac is also committed to combining traditional and modern methods, knowledge, and skills to accomplish its goals. While honouring the importance of traditional practices, we also acknowledge and promote new technologies and approaches that improve the quality of life while staying in harmony with individuals, communities, and nature. This systemic aproach to our work is primary to our beliefs and framework for building peace and cooperation between individuals, communities, nations, our history and future, as well as our environment.

Furthermore, we encourage and support individuals and/or groups to take initiative to build similar projects and/or programs within their own communities.