In the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of March, seven editors of the History that Connects project 'Teaching Sensitive Topics in the Countries of Former Yugoslavia, 1900-1945' gathered in Vienna to work on the development of the educational material, to identify remaining challenges, to divide tasks and responsibilities and to set up a timeframe concerning the next steps. Despite the extremely cold winter weather and some plane cancellations, all the editors of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia were able to participate. It was a short meeting, but at the same time intense and great progress has been made.

On the 23rd and 24th of March, seven Editors of the History that Connects project will gather in Vienna to discuss the further development of the educational modules with the main focus on finalising the modules, translation, dissemination and implementation. Hereby they will reflect on the piloting results and stemming from that make several decisions about the format, timetable, translation and distribution. A new exiting phase which shows how well the project up till now has developed thanks to the effort of all the participants and coordinators. The meeting is therefore of great importance regarding the continuation of this development and the finalizing of the educational modules. Now is the time to enhance its impact, secure sustainability, to tackle upcoming challenges and to create future opportunities.

On the 11th of January 2013, a roundtable event was set up by EUROCLIO in order to discuss the question of ‘How to deal with the past of the Western Balkans?’. The roundtable was part of a five-day workshop of history educators from Former Yugoslavia with the presence of professional experts Chris Culpin and John Hamer and signifies one of the last phases of the History that Connects programme which seeks to address issues in the sensitive periods in the shared history of the Balkans that were left unaddressed in previous work of the history educators. The project aims to develop through collaborative writing inclusive and multi-perspective ready to use class room teaching material with a focus on the history of the region from 1900-1945. 
The roundtable offered people interested in reconciliation and history education the opportunity to attend a discussion with the history educators of Former Yugoslavia and listen to presentations on reconciliation through or with history (education). Speakers were Anna Kiebert, Program Officer at The Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation (IHJR), Saša Obradović, currently a legal adviser of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia to the Kingdom of The Netherlands and Claske Vos, historian, researcher and teacher at the University of Amsterdam who presented her findings and experiences concerning “A Study of the Regional Heritage Programme in Serbia as a ‘Vehicle of Europeanisation” .

 From 18 to 21 October the sixth – and final – Regional Authors and Experts Work Session within the History that Connects: How to Teach Sensitive Topics in the Countries of Former Yugoslavia took place. After a weekend of hard work EUROCLIO is very satisfied with the progress that is made.

The History Teachers Associations from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia participated actively in the event. The work session was the last in this project, so most modules were finished during the weekend. At the end of the weekend the group agreed to start piloting the modules. This is important because it assures teachers that the developed material is usable in class, and it gives the students the opportunity to suggest adjustments.
To assure that the quality of the Regional Authors and Experts Work Session would be high, EUROCLIO invited teacher trainer and professional in the field of education, Súsanna Margrét Gestsdóttir from Iceland. She held a close, critical look on the activities of the participants and the material. In the coming week mrs Gestsdóttir will write an objective and independent report of her findings.
The modules will now be discussed one more time in The Hague during the Coordinators Editing and Management Meeting, which will take place from 9 to 13 of January. During this meeting two members of each national association will work together to turn the modules into innovative and professional teaching material.
Overall, the meeting was successful in reaching its aims, as well as it created fertile soil for debates, capacity building and engagement across borders. The participants know that there is still some work to do, and will work actively the coming period to overcome the last problems before editing and finalizing the modules.

 EUROCLIO hopes to present the educational textbook with all the developed modules around October next year.