House of Peace and Dialogue (HPD) in close collaboration with the Tibetan Centre for Conflict Resolution (TCCR) has jointly organized a Workshop on Conflict Resolution from 6-8 April 2007 at the TCV House of Peace and Dialogue premises.
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama said, 'If non-violence is to prevail, non-violent movements must be made effective and successful. Some consider the 20th Century a century of war and bloodshed. I believe the challenge before us is to make the new century one of dialogue and non-violence.'
The "House of Peace and Dialogue (HPD)" was established primarily to hosts programmes and activities that help in the promotion of a culture of dialogue and non-violence for the future of mankind, at local as well as international community. In doing so, it provides space and opportunity for dialogue and learning the critical issues of our age - promoting peace and non-violence, cultural and environment awareness, mutual understanding and tolerance, conflict resolution and local and global responsibility etc. either solely or in close collaboration with other like-minded organizations.
While Tibetan Centre for Conflict Resolution (TCCR) is a registered no-profitable, educational organization dedicated to the non-violent management of conflicts in the Tibetan Community and the world as a large. The main aim of the TCCR is to promote the approaches and tools of non-violent conflict resolution and democratic processes in the Tibetan Community in exile and elsewhere.
Some of the activities include educating different groups of people through workshops, seminars, training of new trainers, mediating between individuals and groups, promoting public dialogues, and fact finding into problems in the society.
"As long as human beings have conscience and intellect to think about the future, definitely there will be conflict. Conflicts are made by human beings and methods to solve them must be created through human intelligence. It is wise to solve the conflict through dialogue, not through weapons." - H.H the Dalai Lama to TCCR Team, 29th November 2000
Conflicts and disagreements are a part of life, but they do not have to end in violence. "Conflict resolution" is about teaching people new ways to work through and resolve disputes that don't involve violence. Many schools and community groups offer conflict resolution programs for teens.
According to Crawford and Bodine (1996), most conflict resolution programs follow a series of steps that include Setting ground rules, Listening, Finding common interests, Brainstorming possible solutions to the problem, Discussing each person's view of the proposed solutions and Reaching an agreement.
The Chief Guest of the workshop was Mr. Tsewang Yeshi, the President of Tibetan Children's Villages and was accompanied by other heads of TCV. The programme was participated by a group of senior students of TCV School Upper Dharamsala and Gopalpur. The resource persons for the 3 day workshop were Ms. Sonam Choedon and Ms. Tsering Bhuti, from the Tibetan Centre for Conflict Resolution (TCCR), Dharamsala.
- Understanding Conflicts
- Active Listening
- Languages of Conflicts: Opening and Blocking
- Non Violent Communication (A Language of Compassion)
- Conflict Escalation- The Steps Uphill
- Resolving Conflicts - The Steps Downhill: Basic Conflict Resolution (Transforming Process)
- Various Simulation Exercises and Games
The methods and techniques to be used during these programmes were like Lectures, Group Discussions, Brainstorming Sessions, Simulation Exercises and Presentation etc.
The workshop was attended by group of 25 senior students of Tibetan Children's Village School Upper Dharamsala and Gopalpur. Medium of Language used during the workshop was in Tibetan and English.
On the final day of the workshop, a special dinner was served and the certificates were distributed for the successful completion of the workshop to all the participants. The workshop was highly appreciated by the heads of both the organization and of course the participants experienced very special and new learning environment, unlike their usual classroom education.
Follow-Up
Most interestingly, as per the mission and goal of the programme, the participants of the TCV School Goplapur had successfully given a presentation at their school. They have successfully spread the message of how important is the non-violent communication (a language of compassion), art of listening and various forms of conflicts to means to solve them, wherever such issues takes place.
The follow-up step taken by the participants of TCV Gopalpur was highly appreciated by the TCV School, the House of Peace and Dialogue (HPD) and the Tibetan Centre for Conflict Resolution (TCCR). "We must be the change we wish to see". - Mahatma Gandhi
