DIALOGUE FOR PEACEFUL CHANGE

Community leaders working in the field of social change are on the front line of building and rebuilding society and frequently deal with conflicts. To be successful in their endeavors, these leaders must acquire specific skills to enable them to address a variety conflicts. Dialogue for Peaceful Change (DPC) seeks to professionalize the acquisition of the skills needed by local leaders to address the conflicts they encounter at all levels in their daily work.

Vesper Society is developing DPC in conjunction with Oikos Foundation of the Netherlands, the Ecumenical Association of Academies and Laity Centres in Europe, OIKOSNET, and TIDES Training in Northern Ireland. DPC methodology is enriched by the experiences and views presented by the participants and presenters at the program’s conferences.

During its pilot phase (2004–2007), the Dialogue for Peaceful Change project is providing training to 180 local leaders around the globe to be facilitators and will train an additional 20 people to be trainers. This leadership base will be expanded through additional workshops in 2008 and 2009.

DPC teaches the practical skills that enable leaders to assist those in conflict to agree on how they can live and work without violence. It fully recognizes that conflicts in today’s global community frequently include tensions that have an inter-religious basis.

Click here to view a 2-1/2 minute video (6.3 mb) about DPC.
Download a full project description in PDF (77 kb) or MS Word (52 kb).
For more information, contact .