Dialogue & Facilitation

Content

In a world of major crises, conflict and disruption, approaches are needed that help (re)connecting people, finding common ground and facilitating new, desired realities. Dialogue & facilitation formats hence hold the potential of creating safe spaces, open conversation and interdisciplinary exchanges, which are prerequisites of mastering the challenges of our times and fostering a culture of peace.

Dialogue & facilitation projects and processes can be found on diverse levels, reaching from the very personal one to communities and international dialogue in peace building. It is hence crucial to understand the foundation, prerequisites, dynamics and limits of these approaches and apply them wisely. The necessary personal attitude and facilitation skills can be developed and constitute a life-long learning process of personal unfolding and growth.

Objectives

• Gain basic understanding of dialogue and facilitation approaches. How to build bridges in a world of disruption and widening separation. How to relate to opposing positions or parties. How to use dialogue and facilitation formats as catalysts in stuck situations. What are prerequisites, challenges and limits.
• Get to know and practice relevant attitudes and skills within a learning community. Familiarize yourself with a facilitator´s attitude that helps creating and holding safe and non-judgemental spaces. Step into appreciating and non-violent communication. Expand your understanding of moderating and accompanying groups.
• Apply suitable dialogue and facilitation approaches to specific contexts. Starting from a basic understanding of the power of dialogue and facilitation, transfer their underlying principles to your social field and situations that are important to you.
• Develop a small dialogue project yourself. Take advantage of a shared development process and helpful feedback from your colleagues and facilitator. Test your ideas in a safe and supportive surrounding. Receive a final debrief after the implementation of your project and share lessons learnt for the future.

Key Concepts

• Dialogue and Facilitation approaches based on peace and conflict transformation and state of the art facilitation hubs.
• Attitudes, which comprise growing awareness of assumptions and judgements and the ability to create and foster safe and unconditional spaces.
• Communication and moderation skills due to social sciences, humanistic psychology and systems theory. This includes an introduction to Non-violent Communication and Theme-Centered Interaction.
• Practical application and case studies. This hands-on approach promotes the transition from conceptualizing to doing projects! It follows the current approach of continuous learning, action research and prototyping.