About us

Terraforming is committed to promoting and improving teaching and learning about the Holocaust

and combating antisemitism, antigypsyism and other forms of xenophobia

Founders

Photo by Miško Stanišić: 2 August – Roma Genocide Remembrance Day commemoration in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial, 2016.

Misko Stanisic, Director,
Member of the Serbian delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance – IHRA

Nevena Bajalica, Programme Manager,
Member of the Serbian delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance – IHRA

in a couple of words

Terraforming is an independent non-governmental and non-profit organization from Novi Sad in Serbia founded in 2008, with partners, contributors, associates, and project activities all across Europe.

Terraforming develops educational methodologies and teaching materials, combining best practices in contemporary pedagogy with new-media technologies while facilitating multidisciplinary cross-sectoral international project cooperation and exchange.

Our story

In 1990’s Nevena Bajalica and Miško Stanišić left the war-torn Yugoslavia. Nevena emigrated to the Netherlands, while Miško managed to get out of Sarajevo and eventually ended up in Sweden as a refugee. It wasn’t easy. During the first years, Miško lived in refugee camps around Stockholm while Nevena managed Amsterdam squats. After several years, lots of effort, and hard work, things got better. Both managed to study, find proper jobs and managed to get their lives sorted out. Eventually, both found their professional and personal interest in the fields of education and civic activism, and in topics related to human rights, war atrocities and crimes, and their everlasting consequences, prejudices, discrimination, and xenophobia against various minorities, immigrants, and “foreigners.” After decades spent in the Netherlands and Sweden respectively, both felt that their acquired knowledge, accumulated experiences, and a unique overview of the ways, trends, needs, and potentials both in Western Europe, Scandinavia, and in Serbia should be put in use for developing cooperation and exchange projects in the fields of education and culture, to bring together and contribute to all these societies they call “home.” Nevena and Miško met in 2008, and Terraforming was founded.

Nevena and Miško in 2009. during one of the first projects of just founded association Terraforming. Photo by Miško Stanišić

Mission Statement

Mission

Terraforming promotes human rights, diversity, and tolerance, combating discrimination, intolerance, antisemitism, antiziganism, and all forms of xenophobia while debunking bias, myths, prejudice, and stereotypes. Terraforming designs training programs, facilitate the international exchange of experiences and best practices, and produces various public outreach activities to empower multipliers such as teachers, librarians, archivists, museum workers, NGO activists, and to inform local communities, decisions, and policymakers, as well as other stakeholders.

To and from Serbia

Terraforming facilitates cooperation and exchange between institutional partners from Serbia with relevant partners around Europe and around the World. In Serbia, Terraforming promotes education about the Holocaust, a stronger culture of remembrance, protection of endangered authentic Holocaust sites, and contributes to addressing distortion and manipulation of history. On the other side, internationally, Terraforming contributes to raising awareness and better knowledge about Serbian history and culture, available archival materials, research, achievements, and ideas of experts and creators from Serbia.

Pedagogical Approach

Terraforming strives to follow the educational guidelines of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), the educational philosophy of the International School for Holocaust Studies Yad Vashem, UNESCO recommendations on education about the Holocaust, ODIHR and UNESCO guidelines for educators and policymakers on addressing antisemitism, ODIHR recommendations and guidelines for education about Human Rights and countering various forms of intolerance and discrimination, as well as the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education EDC/HRE.

Expertise

Terraforming has longstanding expertise in developing and writing grant proposals with a proven track record of successful applications to major international funding institutions. With its large network among cultural and educational institutions, scholars, experts, NGOs, and other stakeholders around Europe, Terraforming sets up cross-sectoral international project cooperations and exchanges.

Staff Members

Ljiljana Ćumura
Senior project manager

Gojko Kekić
Media outreach and production manager

Snežana Orčić
Project Assistant

Milana Meytes
Project Manager

Ljiljana Ćumura holds a master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Novi Sad in Serbia. She further studied peace education and conflict management, mediation, project management and youth & community development in Germany, UK, Sweden, Poland and Malta. Her research interests focus is on participatory learning and action, restorative practice, various aspects of education and teaching methodologies, as well on migrations. With more than 20 years of experience in the international non-profit NGO sector, and several awards for her work in the fields of journalism, art, youth work, victimology and education, Ljiljana is highly skilled project manager.

Gojko Kekić graduated in journalism at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad. He has ten years of experience working in the media with a special focus on radio and web journalism. Areas of interest are: politics, culture, media production, communications, NGOs, history and education.

Snežana Orčić holds a master’s degree in Serbian literature and language at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad. She has experience in creative writing. Areas of interest are: writing, culture, ethnology, history and education.

Milana Meytes is a writer, educator and researcher. She is a native New Yorker that has been exploring her family’s history as Russian Jews from the former Soviet Union in her personal, professional and academic career. After earning a Masters from New York University in Interdisciplinary Humanities, specializing in Eastern European Memory Studies, she taught creative and composition writing in NYC public and private schools before starting a Fulbright Fellowship 2019-2020 in Serbia at the University of Novi Sad. Milana joined the Terraforming team in November 2020 as a project manager and creative consultant.

Steering Committee

Dr Milan Koljanin

Historian, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Contemporary History in Belgrade, Member of the Serbian delegation to IHRA. Interest and expertise: Antisemitism in Serbia, WWII and the Holocaust in Serbia.

Dr Vasilije Milnović

Head of the Scientific Center at the Belgrade University Library, Literary Critic and Theorist. Interest and expertise: Literature Science, Digital Humanities, Cultural Theory, Intercultural Communication, Intercultural Competencies.

Dr Julia Bala

Clinical Psychologist and Psychotherapist. Interest and expertise: specialised in intergenerational consequences of trauma, influence of forced migration on parent-child relationship, and trauma in refugee children and families.

Administrative and registration data

LEGAL NAME

English: Terraforming South
Serbian: Тераформинг Југ
Short name: Terraforming

OFFICIAL ADDRESS (Business Postal Address)

Balzakova 16
21000 Novi Sad, Serbia

VISITING ADDRESS (Novi Sad Office)

The Archives of Vojvodina
Žarka Vasiljevića 2 A (room 15.)
21000 Novi Sad, Serbia

LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES

Milenko Stanišić
Nevena Bajalica
E-mail: Contact Form

REGISTRATION DATA

Legal Status: Non-profit association (NGO)
Registration (Matični br.): 28024410
Registration date: 04.07.2010
Tax Registration (PIB): 106791153

INTERNATIONAL ID DATA

(EU) PIC: 932179022
(EU) OID: E10254261
(EU) PADOR: RS-2013-BIL-1704863652

DUNS: 538216634
NCAGE: A0VLS

BANK ACCOUNT

IBAN: RS35170003001453800168
SWIFT: BACXRSBG
BANK: Unicredit Bank Serbia JSC

DOCUMENTS

Statute (Serbian & English)

Proof of Registration (Serbian & English)

Tax Registration (Serbian & English)

REGISTER OF VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS

Registration nr. 16/2020 in The Records of the Organizers of Volunteer Programs by The Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, from December 18, 2020.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

The Financial Statements are public and available online on the Serbian Business Registers Agency SBRA (Agencija za privredne registre APR) website, in the Register of Financial Statements – in line with the Law on Accounting of the Republic Serbia.

Policy Documents

Anti-corruption Policy and Procurement Routines

To secure the highest professional and ethical standards in its work and to contribute prevention of corruption, Terraforming will continuously work on strengthening its organizational culture and improving its working methods and routines. Following the Transparency International definitions and recommendations on countering and reporting corruption, Terraforming developed its own

Anti-corruption Policy

Procurement Routines

Child Protection Policy

Terraforming is committed to providing and maintaining a caring learning environment and preventing and addressing child abuse and exploitation. We strongly condemn all forms of child abuse and exploitation.

Terraforming is committed to present this policy, and provide mechanisms for our board members, co-workers, employees, representatives, volunteers, and all other participants in our activities to raise awareness, aid prevention, encourage reporting and ease response to any form and any case of proven, alleged or attempted abuse within our field of function and influence according to its nature.

Following the Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child, The European Convention on Human Rights, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), The National Strategy for Protection of Children and Prevention from Violence of the Republic of Serbia, General and Special Protocol for Protection of Children and Students from Violence, Neglect, and Abuse in Educational Institutions, developed by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia, Terraforming developed its own

Child Protection Policy

Social Media

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References

Awards

Awarded the Yehuda Bauer Grant
by International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance IHRA

The project “The International Library Platform for Teaching and Learning about the Holocaust” developed by Terraforming is awarded the annual Yehuda Bauer Grant for 2016. IHRA awards this honor annually to an outstanding project proposal submitted through IHRA’s Grant Programme. The recipient of the Yehuda Bauer Grant is selected by the Funding Review Committee from among all proposals recommended to IHRA’s member country delegations for funding.

Membership

Member of the Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO)

Member of the European Network Countering Antisemitism through Education (ENCATE)

Member of EuroClio – European Association of History Educators

Our work has been praised, presented and referred to in various publications and reports by different international, governmental and intergovernmental institutions and organizations:

Featured in the OSCE/ODIHR video

Our educational concept and teaching material Ester.rs, developed in the frames of the OSCE/ODIHR programme “Turning Words Into Action to Address Antisemitism”, is featured in the OSCE/ODIHR video “Addressing Anti-Semitism Through Education”.

Project partner and facilitator

photo: Nikola Radic Lucati

Miško Stanišić at the presentation “Escalating into Holocaust” at The NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, during the project “Escalating into Holocaust” organized in cooperation with the Historical Archives of Belgrade and other partners.

Terraforming develops, facilitates and participates in many international and national projects and activities in the fields of education, research and remembrance of the Holocaust. Terraforming contributes in various expert groups focusing on education about the Holocaust, distortion and denial of the Holocaust, countering antisemitism, such as expert groups in the frames of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance IHRA, or OSCE/ODIHR and UNESCO.