“Knowledge matters when we translate it into practice,” said Prof. Dr. Zilka Spahić Šiljak, Director of the TPO Foundation, on October 3, 2026, at the presentation of the ERMA Award for contribution to human rights, democracy, and peacebuilding. The recognition holds special significance for her, as she herself graduated from the ERMA programme in 2001, has been teaching in the programme for several years, and today addressed a new generation of students as an award laureate.
Addressing this year’s generation of graduates, she reflected on completing her own studies in 2001 and on the belief that earning a degree also meant finding answers. The experience that followed, however, taught her something different: “A diploma does not give you the answers. It helps you ask better questions.”
The journey that began with the ERMA programme took her through academia and civil society, work on gender equality, peacebuilding, interreligious dialogue, and education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the region, and internationally. Throughout all those years, she emphasized, one conviction has remained unchanged: knowledge matters only when we translate it into practice. Human rights, dignity, equality, and peace remain only powerful words unless they become part of our institutions, classrooms, communities, and everyday relationships.
She spoke in particular about the slowness of institutions and their tendency to postpone change until some imagined “right moment.” Yet the experience of social engagement shows that such an ideal moment rarely arrives on its own. Sometimes, our task is to create it – to speak when silence is easier, to question what is accepted as normal, and to cross boundaries that others tell us should remain closed.
Creating such spaces is especially important in divided societies. It means bringing to the same table people who believe they have nothing to say to one another. Some of the most important processes in her own work, Spahić Šiljak emphasized, began precisely through such encounters.
Democracy and peace are not abstract ideas – they begin with encounters. They begin when we sit with people who are different from us, listen to them seriously, disagree without turning the other person into an enemy, and have the courage to question not only others, but also ourselves.
At the end of her address, she highlighted three messages for the new generation of ERMA graduates: to remain intellectually restless and curious, not to confuse cynicism with intelligence, and to create space for others through their work.
She also reminded the audience that leadership does not always mean being the most visible person in the room. Sometimes leadership means creating a space in which someone else discovers that they have a voice.
She concluded her address with a message that also captures twenty-five years of experience since completing the ERMA programme:
“Use your knowledge. Protect your curiosity. Cross boundaries. Create space for others. And keep enough humour to survive the process,” concluded Prof. Dr. Zilka Spahić Šiljak.
