From Sunday June 11th to 13th, The Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue is inviting professionals, activists, and other relevant actors in the field of dialogue, peace, and conflict, to Lillehammer, Norway. The three-day seminar will center around dialogical reflection and knowledge exchange on difficult dilemmas regarding war and peace, where there is space for challenging questions, uncertainty, and complexity, rather than conclusions and absolute answers.
As peace workers and engaged citizens the last few years have confronted us with the rugged and complex landscape that exist between war and peace since the return of Taliban rule in Afghanistan in 2021 and Russia’s war in Ukraine in the beginning of 2022. In a world that for many feels increasingly unsafe, unpredictable, and violent, the field of peace, dialogue, and mediation come together and ask ourselves some difficult questions.
What do our dilemmas do with us and how do we react to them? How do we prepare for peace? How do we navigate responsibility and guilt in times of war? When is it time for dialogue? What is the place of pacifism in the current peace movement? When is a war won? Who do we sympathize with, and why? What does do-no-harm mean in practice? Can war be stopped without violence? What are the limits of dialogue?
Based on elevating personal experiences from specific contexts around the world, this seminar will have a broad focus, centering on fundamental questions that all peace practitioners and civil society around the globe are faced with. Together we will explore how we navigate the individual, societal, and professional challenges, opportunities, and contradictions in our diverse realities.
Through a combination of dialogues, workshops, and keynote lectures, the aim is to create a space for both the personal and professional. Organized in a process-oriented manner, the seminar content will be partly influenced by participants contributions and experiences.
See our program below:
WHEN? Sunday June 11th to Tuesday June 13th (advised arrival on the 10th)
WHERE? Nansen Academy & Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue, Lillehammer, Norway
COST
Participants are asked to contribute with a participation fee of 150 EUR, which will cover accommodation and meals all seminar days, as well as dinner Saturday the 10th for those arrived. Travel is at self-cost.
APPLYING TO THE SEMINAR
This seminar has limited spots and participants will be chosen based on experience and background. This is a forum for international practitioners and professionals in the field, which includes those with volunteer and activist experience. Previous participants of our trainings and workshops and members of our alumni network Pockets of Peace are especially encouraged to apply.
Apply as soon as possible, as spots are given consecutively. Accepted applicants will be given information about detailed practicalities and payment, as well as the chance to share your own dietary needs etc.
Pockets of Peace 2023: Dilemmas in War and Peace receives funding from the Norwegian National Comission for UNESCO.