Dialogue
“In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Working with dialogue
Dialogue evenings are dedicated to the challenge of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Switzerland through dialogue and collaboration between versatile actors from all areas of society.
All too often, complex issues such as poverty, climate change or gender discrimination are discussed only in the political arena, between "important" actors or between groups tending to insularity who shared the same opinion. We believe that any global or national challenge should also be addressed at the local level, by the people who best know the impact of the problem, in a way where people feel and connect to their own personal connection to the matter.
For this to succeed, however, we need the ability to listen to each other and enter into a constructive dialogue. That is why we want to create spaces all over the country where diversity and differences can come together to connect with each other as humans and collectively shape Switzerland of tomorrow.
What do we mean by Dialogue?
By "Dialogue" we mean the kinds of conversations that change something in us when we take part in them, and that shift something between the people who are involved in the conversation. Dialogues invite us to take the “risk” of being authentic and to co-create a space where others can do the same. Dialogues are about challenging our habits of thought and conversation: listening with attention, speaking with intention and daring to turn the camera around to face ourselves and the roles we might have within the systems we are trying to change.
The Dialogue Space is a space where we try to learn and understand not through facts or intellectual knowledge, but through seeing another perspective through the eyes and story of someone else, and through getting a new sense of the broader ecosystem that the discussed issue is part of.
We understand Dialogue as a toolbox, a communication & relation technology as well as a lifestyle.
Every dialogue is a tailored flow of communication techniques which accompanies the individual and the group process.
Our connection with the method
Our Practitioners Circle and some of its members have been part of the Dialogue Facilitation training as well as facilitated Dialogue Evenings.
We have run a Dialogue Facilitation Training in 2018-2019, where participants trained to deepen their skill sets of holding space for different dialogue formats.
Dialogue Workshops for training to be in dialogue are offered regularly. Find out more on the platform.
Toolbox & articles
Find descriptions of tools and our experiences with them in our open-source toolbox:
Practice examples and personal experiences: