Participants attending the Nansen Facilitation Training were clear on their feedback on their views on how and why this training was useful for their work. Some of them work in countries affected by conflict, such as Afghanistan, Somalia, Ukraine. Others have challenges in other non-conflict related situations in Norway or Denmark, where dialogue can be used to increase social cohesion and participation.
“As a patrol leader in OSCE in Ukraine, it is my job to engage in dialogue with all parties, and much of what I took with me from the course will be useful to me, for example, active listening and how to ask the right questions,” says Eva Ulland, who works for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Thomas Soløst, who works as special advisor in the school administration in Bærum municipality in Norway says this about his experience of the training: “To allow oneself to accept disagreement is for me something of the core of the dialogue model. We do not necessarily need to choose one side or another, we do not have to be biased. Adding all different views into the room of dialogue allows us to get a deeper insight into each other’s point of view.”
-Professional exchange combined with excellent implementation
Eva Ulland was appreciating humor in combination with skills: “This training was for me the highlight of last year and I had an extraordinary educational and useful week, with lots of laughs, and fellow participants shared generously of their expertise and experience in their respective fields of work. This professional exchange and combined with excellent implementation of the training, and lots of laughs, is for me the best way to learn,” she says.
Based in Lillehammer, Norway, the Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue uses its wide experience in community based dialogue to organize dialogue trainings, targeting in particular those who can use skills of dialogue facilitation to prevent or transform conflict situations at a community level or institutional level. Next training is in May, more information here.
The Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue has more than 20 years of experience in developing methodologies and implementing dialogue projects in the Western Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya, Ukraina, Norway, Poland and other countries. The Nansen Center provides capacity building on dialogue, with trainings, seminars and workshop on dialogue, and it is located at the Nansen Academy in Lillehammer, Norway, with a regional office in Oslo.