Community Dialogue Processes: Creating spaces for dialogue in communities and deepening facilitation skills

Who can register for this course?

The course is designed for practitioners who want to expand and deepen their knowledge in the field of Dialogue, whether working as peacebuilders, development or aid workers, or human rights activists. This training is designed to allow participation alongside a regular job and from a variety of locations around the world.

Depending on methods and topic of the training, we limit the number of available spaces to a manageable size (a maximum of 20 participants). Register early to reserve your place!

Content

• Dialogue remains one of the most used methods in peacebuilding. It is versatile and can be adapted to almost any purpose. Dialogue plays a central role in conflict transformation. It can help people respond creatively to social and political conflict and lay the foundations for alternative futures. The basic assumption underpinning dialogue is that under appropriate conditions interpersonal contact is one of the most effective ways to improve communication, understanding and interaction between opposing groups.  
   
• Community dialogue plays a pivotal role in fostering understanding, reconciliation, and sustainable peace within societies. It provides a platform for diverse voices to be heard, grievances to be addressed, and common ground to be found. Through open and respectful communication, communities can bridge divides, build trust, and collectively navigate towards peaceful resolutions to conflicts. Understanding how dialogue works, the ability to convene and facilitate dialogue, to design a dialogue process or to manage a dialogue project, are some of the core competences for peace work.  
   
• Training peace workers in dialogue skills and competences is therefore an important task for advancing their work in peacebuilding.

Objectives

• Understanding principles of different dialogue approaches and terms
• Being able to design inclusive dialogue projects that take different needs, privilege and power differences
• into account and implement appropriate dialogue formats and facilitation methods, tools and skills
• Understanding group dynamics and the role and expectations on a dialogue facilitator
• Discern the complexity of different contexts and have come up with personal methods in dealing with complexity and difficulties
• Being aware of opportunities, but also limits of dialogue processes (within the participant's own contexts)

Key Concepts

This training will cover knowledge, skills and attitudes for dialogue.

• Knowledge: dialogue theories, approaches, models, processes, examples, case studies and best practices, contextualising and linking it with participants’ knowledge and experience. 
• Skills: dialogue skills, communication skills (especially active listening skills), facilitation skills, reflection and reflexiveness (reflective practitioner approach). Role plays and simulations, practicing skills, feedback.
• Attitudes: self-awareness (awareness of our own biases), introspection, openness for learning, role plays, feedback.

Methodology

The training methodology is informed by the ‘Learning for Change’ approach, based on 5 principles:

• Interactive and participatory processes
• Linking theory and practice
• Reflective practitioner approach
• Adult learning methodology
• Learning through case studies and examples relevant to participants’ context.

In the course, participants use a variety of tools, including a digital learning platform, a video conferencing tool, and an online whiteboard. Participants should therefore have a good internet connection (1 Mbit down/upload or better). A headset is highly recommended.

Workload

Deliverables:

• Regular attendance and active participation in live sessions
• Contribution to reflection and discussion forums
• Participation in interactive exercises, role plays and simulations
• Regular reading and contribution to discussions on weekly topics in live sessions
• Constructive participation in small group tasks: facilitation, moderation, presentation
• Development of a case study, including actor analysis and designing a dialogue process for the chosen case study context
• Final presentation of the case study

After a successful participation, participants receive a certificate and become part of our alumni network.

Total expected weekly hours: 5 to 6 hours per week