📅 Dates: May/June 2025 (TBC)
📍 Location: Ypres (Ieper), Flanders, Belgium
Our journey continues to the symbolic heart of WWI memory – Ypres, Belgium. In September 2025, GOV4PeaCE partners will gather for the Third Joint Transnational Strategic Workshop in a location that embodies both the tragedy and the resilience of Europe’s shared history.
Ypres and the surrounding Flanders Fields are among the most well-preserved and internationally recognized WWI heritage landscapes. This workshop will be an opportunity to learn from Belgium’s advanced models of memorialization, education, and tourism, and to translate that knowledge into cross-border initiatives in Central Europe.
🔹 Workshop Highlights:
- Visits to key WWI sites including cemeteries, trenches, and museums (e.g. In Flanders Fields Museum),
- Strategic working groups on interpretation methods, digital tools for heritage engagement, and inclusive remembrance practices,
- Exchange with Belgian heritage professionals and civil society organizations involved in youth education and battlefield tourism.
A major component will be examining how Belgium manages large-scale international remembrance, involving public institutions, non-profits, and private tourism operators. This model can serve as a blueprint for countries still developing their narrative and infrastructure around WWI memory.
The workshop will conclude with a roundtable session focused on adapting Belgian expertise to the unique challenges of Central and Eastern Europe – particularly in regions where WWI history is less known, less visible, or politically sensitive.
🎯 Why Attend in Ypres?
✔ Immerse yourself in world-class WWI heritage interpretation
✔ Discover how memory can shape local identity and global responsibility
✔ Learn how to turn heritage into an educational and economic resource
✔ Build bridges between historical truth and contemporary civic values
📢 In Ypres, the past still speaks. Join us as we listen, learn, and move forward together.