Tools for Changemakers 2020

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Shaping the Future together through Dialogue

17-19 July 2020

 

Tools for Changemakers – Shaping the future together through dialogue was a three-day online event that aimed at bringing together people of all backgrounds, who want to make a difference in their communities and explore how dialogue can help to build a more cohesive and inclusive society.

The conference took participants on a journey of discovery of the power of dialogue through three interactive online sessions. These offered opportunities to listen to experts, to experience dialogue in groups, and to reflect and share personal experiences.

 

T4C 2020 numbers correct version

 

Thank you!

We would like to thanks our partners, KAICIID and Creators of Peace, as well as all the generous donors who support our efforts to promote dialogue for a more peaceful and inclusive world.

 

Participants’ feedback

Sincere thanks to the amazing team for a superb series of meetings. What particularly comes to my mind is how well-organized the sessions have been. You anticipated our every need before we even realized them. It felt like a very safe space and, for me, allowed very deep sharing. Hoping that next year we'll be back in Caux.

 

A wonderful and wonder-filled event! Thank you.

 

This is the gold standard for how to do a meaningful forum on line.

 

Thank you to everyone for a fantastic three days. I am inspired, challenged and feel connected to a wider narrative of peace and dialogue.

 

I was inspired by the stories. I am encouraged to overcome my fears, eager to carry out dialogue in my family, community and at work. Thank you to the organizers for bringing Caux to us.

 

T4C 2020 grateful bubble

 

Watch the replays

17 July: Let’s talk! – Exploring dialogue principles and learning from experienced practitioners

With:

  • Simon Keyes, Professor of Reconciliation and Peacebuilding at the University of Winchester, United Kingdom
  • Dr. Iryna Brunova-Kalisetska, Researcher, trainer, dialogue facilitator, Ukraine
  • Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Professor at the American University School of International Service in International Peace and Conflict Resolution, Washington, DC, USA

 

18 July: Let’s listen! – Experiencing a dialogue

With:

  • • Ebony Walden, Trainer, Facilitator, Urban planner, Community facilitator, Ebony Walden Consulting, USA
  • • Matthew Freeman, Trainer, Facilitator, Dialectix Consulting, USA
  • • Rob Corcoran, Training Consultant, Initiatives of Change International, USA

 

 

19 July: Let’s reflect! – Taking inspiration from stories of impact, sense making and looking ahead

With:

  • Angela Starovoytova, Dialogue facilitator, Trainer in effective communication | Network of dialogue facilitators, Ukraine
  • Janine Farah, Masters student in Peace and Conflict Studies, Australia

 

 

We trust our participants found the Tools for Changemakers experience inspiring and will strengthen their confidence in dialogue as a tool for addressing the challenges faced by their communities.

 

Speakers

Mohammed Abu-Nimer
Mohammed Abu-Nimer
Professor, School Of International Service, American University & Senior Adviser, KAICIID, Austria
Austria
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Before taking up his present roles, Professor Mohammed Abu-Nimer served as Director of the Peacebuilding and Development Institute (1999-2013) at the International Peace and Conflict Resolution programme of the American University. He has conducted interreligious conflict resolution training and interfaith dialogue workshops in conflict areas around the world, including Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Chad, Niger, Iraq (Kurdistan), Philippines (Mindanao) and Sri Lanka. He also founded the Salam Institute for Peace and Justice, an organization that focuses on capacity building, civic education, and intrafaith and interfaith dialogue. In addition to his numerous articles and books, he is the co-founder and co-editor of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development.  
Iryna Brunova-Kalisetska
Iryna Brunova-Kalisetska
Researcher, Trainer, Dialogue facilitator
Freelance
Ukraine
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Iryna Brunova-Kalisetska has been involved in conflict and peace studies as a researcher, trainer, dialogue facilitator and author of manuals since 2000, with a focus on identity-based conflicts. Since 2015 she has been an expert/facilitator on a number of dialogue initiatives organized in Ukraine by the Policy Coordination Unit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (PCU OSCE). These dialogues have addressed conflict or poor communication between the authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk regions and local communities and activists; conflicts involving journalists and the media, such as the one between media organizations and the Ministry of Defense; and conflicts between the Ministry of Education and minorities in Transcarpathia, Odesa and Chernivtsy regions around the medium of education. Iryna also has eight years of experience in dialogue on memory issues. She is part of the Ukrainian Network of Dialogue Facilitators (in cooperation with Foundations for Freedom) and with them has designed dialogue elaboration and training programmes for community and civil activists, police, journalists, human rights activists, local authorities, ethnic and religious leaders and other groups. Since 2008 she has been a member of the Working Group on Peace Education of GPPAC (the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict). This has taken her to Moldova-Transnistria, Kyrgyzstan and Tadjikistan.
Rob Corcoran
Rob Corcoran
Training Consultant
Initiatives of Change International
USA
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Rob Corcoran is a trainer, facilitator, writer and racial healing practitioner. He has led trustbuilding workshops among diverse and polarized groups across North America, Europe, South Africa, Brazil, India and Australia. Originally from Scotland, he served as the National Director for Initiatives of Change USA and founded its internationally recognized programme, Hope in the Cities, in Richmond, Virginia. He is also a co-founder of the Caux Scholars Program. He collaborated on a dialogue guide for President Clinton’s Initiative on Race. He served as consultant to the WK Kellogg Foundation in launching a national Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation project. He is a member of a UNESCO Slave Route Project Taskforce on Healing the Wounds of Slavery, and of the advisory committee for the National Episcopal Church’s Becoming Beloved Community project. He is currently the training design consultant for IofC International’s Trustbuilding Program. His book Trustbuilding: An Honest Conversation on Race, Reconciliation, and Responsibility has been described as a ‘visionary, compelling account of healing and change’.
Janine Farah
Janine Farah
Student in Peace and Conflict Studies
Australia
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  Janine Farah, 23, lives in Sydney, Australia, and comes from a Lebanese background. She completed her undergraduate degree in Economics and International Relations at the University of Sydney. She is currently writing the dissertation for her Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies. Janine has undertaken fieldwork in India and Lesotho focused on inequality and development. Alongside her studies, she works for Oaktree, an NGO which aims to motivate young people to engage in political and social impact work. She also teaches English as a second language to migrants and refugees with Navitas, and is a Creators of Peace Circle facilitator. Her main areas of interest are post-conflict peacekeeping, dialogue and reconciliation, and the economics of peace.  
Matthew Freeman
Matthew Freeman
Trainer, Facilitator
Dialectix Consulting
USA
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Matthew Freeman’s passion for racial equity and social justice has led him across the United States and overseas, helping people connect across difference and begin to address the challenges that divide them. Matthew has worked with Members of Congress and the Federal Reserve System, as well as with organizations of all sizes, from Fortune 500’s to small non-profits. With degrees in the sciences and the humanities, Matthew brings his diverse educational background to bear on topics like unconscious bias – exploring what we know about how the brain functions and how that impacts our human interactions. He is the author Overcoming Bias: Building Authentic Relationships Across Differences. He heads the faculty of the Community Trustbuilding Fellowship, the leadership formation programme of Initiatives of Change USA. 
Simon Keyes
Simon Keyes
Professor of Reconciliation and Peacebuilding
University of Winchester
United Kingdom
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Since reading Zoology at Oxford, Simon Keyes' career has mostly been in NGOs involved with homelessness, mental health and crime prevention. He was Director of Shelter’s Housing Aid Services and set up the Revolving Doors Agency which pioneered new approaches to helping people with mental health problems in the criminal justice system. After a spell as Director of Lambeth Crime Prevention Trust, he moved to the World Community for Christian Meditation, where he organized The Way of Peace 2000 interfaith initiative with the Dalai Lama in Northern Ireland. He was Director of St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace between 2004 and 2014. Since 2015, he has been Professor of Reconciliation and Peacebuilding at the University of Winchester and now teaches an online distance learning Masters programme in Reconciliation to students around the world. His current areas of interest are the notion of successful disagreement, the nature of dialogue and appreciative approaches to community reconciliation. He is an experienced trainer and facilitator who has worked with a wide range of groups in the UK and abroad. 
Angela Staravoytova
Angela Starovoytova
Dialogue Facilitator, Trainer in effective communication
Network of Dialogue Facilitators
Ukraine
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Angela Starovoytova is passionate about building connections between people and communities. Her expertise is in using non-formal education and participatory facilitation methods to create a safe and trusting environment where individuals and groups can find personal transformation and changed  relationships. Angela has 20 years of international experience organizing and running workshops/conferences/long-term programmes on such themes as ethical leadership, conflict-resolution, trust- and peacebuilding and critical thinking. She is one of the founders of Foundations for Freedom/Initiatives of Change (Ukraine), and has worked in Ukraine, UK, Switzerland, Germany and Uganda. Currently her main involvement is with the Network of Dialogue Facilitators, using a non-violent approach to run dialogues, training programmes, forums and other events for UNDP, IOM, GIZ, IREX, OSCE and other organizations, both in Ukraine and abroad.
Ebony Walden
Ebony Walden
Trainer, Facilitator, Urban planner, Community facilitator
Ebony Walden Consulting
USA
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Ebony Walden is an urban planner, consultant and facilitator with over a decade of experience working to transform communities. She is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Ebony Walden Consulting (EWC), an urban strategy firm based in Richmond, Virginia. At EWC, she works with organizations in the housing and community development arena to design and facilitate workshops, training programmes, strategic plans and community engagement processes that explore race, equity and the creation of just and inclusive communities. In addition to her work at EWC, Ebony is an adjunct professor at Virginia Commonwealth University where she teaches a class on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the City. Ebony is member of the faculty for the Community Trustbuilding Fellowship. 
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Tools for Changemakers - Programme

programme

Friday, 17 July

11:00 - 13:00 (CEST)
Let’s talk! – Exploring dialogue principles and learning from experienced practitioners

 

For the first day we have invited experts to talk about their approach to dialogue, with examples from fieldwork, and to share how these practices could help us to respond to the challenges facing the world. Small discussion groups will give participants the opportunity to share personal experiences and their own dialogue practices. Together we will look for inspiration and vision for a more cohesive world.

 

I. Word of welcome

 

II. Getting to know each other

 

III. What is dialogue? 

  • Simon Keyes, Professor of Reconciliation and Peacebuilding at the University of Winchester, United Kingdom

 

IV. Conversations with invited practitioners

  • Dr. Iryna Brunova-Kalisetska, Researcher, trainer, dialogue facilitator, Ukraine
  • Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Professor at the American University School of International Service in International Peace and Conflict Resolution, Washington, DC, USA

 

V. Discussion groups

 

VI. Wrapping up the session

 

Saturday, 18 July

10:00 - 12:00 (CEST)
Let’s listen! – Experiencing a dialogue

 

The second day will give our participants the opportunity to witness and then take part it an online facilitated dialogue. This will be followed by discussion groups, in which they can reflect on what they have learnt.

 

I. Word of welcome

 

II. The role of dialogue in the #BlackLivesMatter context

With:

• Ebony Walden, Trainer, Facilitator, Urban planner, Community facilitator, Ebony Walden Consulting, USA

• Matthew Freeman, Trainer, Facilitator, Dialectix Consulting, USA

Moderator:

• Rob Corcoran, Training Consultant, Initiatives of Change International, USA

 

III. Experiencing a dialogue

 

IV. Discussion groups - unpacking the learning and the experience

 

V. Wrapping up the session

 

Sunday, 19 July

10:00 - 12:00 (CEST)
Let’s reflect! – Taking inspiration from stories of impact and looking ahead

 

On the final day we will present two inspirational stories of the impact of dialogue and give our participants further opportunities in small groups to explore their next steps in addressing local or global issues.

 

I. Word of welcome

 

II. Stories of impact:

  • Angela Starovoytova, Dialogue facilitator, Trainer in effective communication | Network of dialogue facilitators, Ukraine
  • Janine Farah, Masters student in Peace and Conflict Studies, Australia

 

III. Small groups exercise/ application

 

IV. Wrapping up the session

 

We trust our participants will find the Tools for Changemakers experience inspiring and will strengthen their confidence in dialogue as a tool for addressing the challenges faced by their communities.

  • Please note that this programme is subject to change.
  • Download the programme here.

 

NB: Please note that for technical reasons the Caux Forum Online will be held mainly in English. No interpretation will be offered. Thank you for your understanding.