CONFLICT DIALOGUE

pig in the middle Picture shows participants in Baku carrying out a pig-in-the-middle excercise

Dialogue is about having the opportunity to tell one's own story, and to hear the story of the "other". Unfortunately, the concept of dialogue is often confused with negotiation. This is a pity, because many opportunities to give the parties an understanding of each others' situation are lost, when parties refuse to enter a dialogue because they believe that they are expected to be ready to make concessions.

Facilitating dialogue is similar to third party mediation in many ways, but here the facilitator is not attempting to solve problems. Her/his focus will be on ensuring that both parties are able to tell about their experiences, opinions and feelings within a framework of mutal respect. This applies to conflict dialogue, cultural dialogue, religious dialogue or a combination of these.

The exercises below focus on components in the process of preparing a dialogue facilitor: awareness of own prejudices, active listening, empathic communication, facilitation skills, awareness of communication strategies. There are additional exercises for preparation for religious and cultural dialogue.

*Awareness of own prejudices:*
Trans Siberian Railway (Eurotrain)	Helps the participants to become aware of their own prejudices, and reflect over whether it is possible to live without prejudices (for a purely European workshop, choose Eurotrain).
*Active listening:*
Listening exercise	Promotes reflection around what is good and what is bad listening.
Listen or not	Promotes understanding of the importance of the quality of the listening to the ease of the speaker's communication.
Yes, and Then ...	Promotes understanding of the importance of the listeners attitude to the quality of the speaker's communication. Develops active listening skills.
Four levels of listening	Promotes awareness of all the levels of listening and developes listening skills.
*Empathic Communication (Giraffe Language):*
Empathic Communication 1: Making a Request (with roleplay)	Gives the participants an introduction to the idea of jackal and giraffe language, and gives them practice in making requests in a way that does not invite agression.
Empathic Communication 2: Responding to "No" (with roleplay)	Continues the introduction to the idea of jackal and giraffe language, and gives the participants practice in responding to a negative answer. This is very similar to the exercise in part 1, but takes the participants one step further.<
Empathic Communication 3: Identifying needs behind agressive words	Continues the introduction to the idea of jackal and giraffe language, and gives the participants practice in identifying the needs that lie behind insults and agressive communication, and responding to it adequately.
Course in Empathic Communication, Level 1	An alternative, rather deeper course in empathic communication. Level 1, introduction to Jackal and Giraffe languages
Course in Empathic Communication, Level 2	Level 2, Getting familiar with the jackal and giraffe voices.
Course in Empathic Communication, Level 3	Level 3, Listening with Giraffe ears
Course in Empathic Communication, Level 4	Level 4, Mediation using giraffe language
*Facilitating Dialogue:* NOTE: the participants should have carried out the three exercises on empathic communication before they try these exercises.
Man-in-the-middle	Gives the participants practice in one technique used when facilitating dialogues where temperatures are high: "translating" the angry words from dialogue partners into giraffe language.
*Recognising Communication Strategies:*
Communication Strategies, or the masks people wear	Gives the participants practice in recognising communication strategies. Allows them to reflect over their own use of "masks" and recognise others. Gives practice in "removing the mask".
*Preparing for inter-religious dialogue:* Picture shows participants in Baku carrying out the pictionary excercise to find out what they really think of each others' religions
Pictionary exercise on religions	Forces the participants to reflection around their own negative and positive thoughts or impressions on each others religions, and gives them the possibility to air them in a safe framework.