Five-day intense small-group Coaching for Track 2 Dialogue

Overview:

Track 2 Dialogues are seen by many scholars and practitioners as one of the most promising peacebuilding approaches, positioned between official diplomacy and grassroots peace work. However, it is challenging to plan and facilitate them: Participants are often difficult to ‘handle’ – very emotional, but not very ready to open up at the same time -; it is difficult to identify the ‘right’ participants and to reach them and even more challenging to come up with an effective strategy on how to link with other tracks in order to ensure the dialogue would not only have an effect on the individuals directly involved but also the bigger picture.

This five-day coaching is designed to support professionals in their efforts to improve track 2 dialogues they are involved in, by reflecting on achievements and failures and by learning from other participants and the coach’s experience in a small group of 7 to 10 experienced participants in a confidential atmosphere. While case-studies from the participants work will be in the focus, communication skills for dialogue facilitation and respective group settings will be practiced, using real life examples for role-plays and simulations. Theories and concepts of dialogue will be introduced, research results highlighted.

Requirements:

• You are/have been or will be involved in planning, organizing or facilitating a track-2 dialogue process,
• you are interested in reflecting on your experience and learning from others experience in track 2 dialogue,
• you are ready to actively take part in role-plays and exercises for self- reflection.

Content:

• Communication skills for dialogue-facilitation
• Methods for group facilitation
• Techniques to foster shift of perspectives
• The importance of non-verbal communication
• Process-design/planning of dialogue
• Multi-track approaches: How to effectively link with other tracks?
• How to balance inclusivity and pragmatism?
• Dealing with the so-called 'Hard to reach'
• From conflict analysis to dialogue-strategies/theories of change
• Dealing with ‘social baggage’: Being affected by the conflict personally and how it influences our role as dialogue-facilitator/organizer

The coaching will be held under Chatham house rules.

Working hours: 9:30am to 6pm (on Friday: 5pm)
Participation fee: 1390€

Coffee/tea/snacks will be provided. For lunch, participants have to take care individually. If you need accommodation near the training venue, please ask for our recommendations.

Please send your CV and a short letter of motivation, outlining your experience and future plans in track-2-dialogue to info@inmedio-peace-consult.org inmedio +49 [0] 30 - 45 49 08 01

inmedio peace consult ggmbh is a non-profit consultancy and implementing organisation for mediation and dialogue projects. As member of the inmedio-group, the organisation can draw on a wealth of experience from 25 years working in the field of mediation and mediation training. inmedio conducts mediation processes in non-profit-organisations, mediation-/dialogue-projects and trainings for NGOs and governmental actors in development cooperation, humanitarian aid, and peacebuilding. In more than 90 extended mediation-courses inmedio has trained some 1800 professional mediators. With own projects and by supporting local initiatives through training and consultation, inmedio is active in Nepal, Ukraine, South Caucasus, Egypt, Ethiopia and other countries. inmedio is a member of the Initiative Mediation Support Germany (www.friedensmediation-deutschland.de), advocating for a systematic use of mediation in German foreign policy in consultation with the German Federal Foreign Office and the German Bundestag.

Dirk Splinter

Certified mediator and mediation trainer (German Mediators’ Association, BM) with more than 20 years of experience in the field. He has been co-directing inmedio berlin, institute for mediation, consulting, development since 2001 and co-founded inmedio peace consult with Ljubjana Wuestehube. Dirk mediates in various contexts (community, business, INGOs). Dirk’s focus is on designing and facilitating dialogue processes. He was involved in dialogue projects in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, Nepal and Ukraine, among other countries. Furthermore, Dirk provides mediation trainings for post-graduate programmes of different universities in Germany and Switzerland as well as inmedio’s 15-day Multitrack Peace Mediation. Dirk is a member of the Reflecting-on-Peace-Practices Learning community of CDA (Boston, MA) and the OSCE expert pool on mediation and dialogue facilitation.

Ljubjana Wuestehube

Dialogue facilitator and mediation trainer with more than 25 years of experience, certified by the German and Austrian Federal Associations of mediators. In 1998, Ljubjana co-founded inmedio, institute for mediation, consulting, development. For ten years she has been directing 200-hour mediation courses in cooperation with the Swiss Development Cooperation. Today she teaches conflict management and mediation at different universities i.e., at the University of St. Gallen (HSG). During the 1990’s, Ljubjana developed a concept that combines peer-mediation with trauma- counselling for war refugees from the Balkan countries. The resulting SHA:RE-concept for dialogue (From shared truths to joint responsibility) was implemented in Nepal, Sri Lanka and other conflict regions. Ljubjana gathered experience in the field of dialogue and reconciliation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Palestine/Israel, Sri Lanka, Libya, Egypt and other countries. In recent years, she focused on Ukrainian-Russian and Armenian-Azerbaijani dialogues. Ljubjana and Dirk are co-authors of the edited volume ‘Mehr Dialog Wagen!’ (engl.: Dare more Dialogue!), published in 2020.