Dear Harrison I am new to OST and am yet to deliver an OST event and am excited at the prospect. More exciting right now is being a part of the OST family of facilitators and actually reading a response from you to one of the crew in need of assistance. I feel priveledged to be a part of this incredible body of people making a positive difference in the world.
Best regards to you all Allan On Nov 26, 2011 3:45 AM, "Harrison Owen" <[email protected]> wrote: > Lori – Try these. All from Liberia – where there are lots of tough rows to > hoe and multiple NGOs.**** > > ** ** > > *From:* Susan Partnow <[email protected]> > *To:* [email protected] > *Sent:* Tue, March 29, 2011 1:34:58 AM > *Subject:* OS and World Cafe at a Community Meeting in Monrovia, Liberia > > > **** > > Last Saturday my partners and I hosted over 120 community leaders at an > Open Space Community Meeting here in Monrovia, Liberia. My small non > profit, Global Citizen Journey, in partnership with the Liberian > organization, Population Caring Organization, are launching the Liberia > Peacebuilder Initiative to help grow a network of leaders that cut across > all of the many divides here: traditional, Christian, Muslim; 16+ ethnic > groups; men/women; youth/elders; educated/illiterate; ex-combatants; > returning refugees. We have recruited 35 leaders from the Interfaith > Council of Churches, Tribal Elders Council, National Council of Tribal > Governance, and several NGOs plus the Kofi Annan Graduate school of Peace > Studies. These 35 received a 5 day training in Compassionate Listening, > Restorative Circles, Trauma Healing, Forgiveness & Reconciliation – and I > will return in 2 months to continue this train-the-trainer program. One of > the components they will learn is how to facilitate Open Space and World > Café, so they will have these powerful tools to share with their > communities and bring their groups together in dialogue. To introduce them > to this practice, they were invited to attend with their invited guests to > a Community Meeting last Saturday with the convening question, **** > > “It’s up to us – you and me. We have challenges and opportunities.**** > > *What can we do now to begin to create the Liberia that works for all of > us”***** > > **** > > For this first week, I was accompanied by a group of students and two > professors from Salem State University (in Massachusetts) – led by Dr. Greg > Carroll, chair of the Intercultural and Peace studies program there – and > we offered a 3 day training to the Salem students plus students from the > Kofi Annan School of Peace Studies at the University of Liberia. **** > > For the community meeting, we started the morning with a World Café – to > help connect everyone across the diverse groups present in the room – and > to begin giving them the experience and skill of dialogue, i.e. each person > having a turn to have their voice heard, each person listening to one > another, weaving together thoughts into a dialogue – vs. their usual habit > of orating, with each speaker giving their own little speech without > connection to the speaker before or after. We had three rounds with these > questions:**** > > *Round 1)** What do you love about Liberia?***** > > *Round 2)** What keeps us from making Liberia what we want it to be?***** > > *Round 3)** How can we begin to work together to make these ‘better > Liberia’ dreams come true?***** > > * ***** > > Before we began the first round, we had everyone move around so they would > be in a circle that included men and women and people they didn’t know. > This took a while, but with help from the Salem students and PCO staff, we > got them into the small groups of 4. I introduced and explained the use of > a talking object (we had stones picked up at their beautiful beaches). > After I explained in my US English, a local party translated into the local > vernacular creole (“everybody talk small small time with ‘talking object-o’ > and listen each other-o”). Still, there was clear lack of understanding – > this was out of everyone’s experience – so we went around to each group to > help them get it: so someone would actually pick up their talking object > and begin – and pass it around, no cross talk… It was fascinating to see > how –by the third round—everyone in the room had caught on to the idea – > and the groups were fully engaged, one round with the talking object, then > really juicy and connected/coherent conversation… We had a great debrief > and discussion… Then we moved into a large double circle and I introduced > Open Space – so thrilled to tell them how it was really coming back home to > them – since Harrison Owen learned so much from Liberia (where he was the > head of Peace Corps) that he wove into the process…**** > > They were very responsive to step right up and offer topics… After > creating the market place, we had lunch with some fabulous Liberian > drumming and dancing… and then moved into the first session. Again, it took > a while for them to really understand how they could move from session to > session – and how they could choose a session to attend – not just their > own topic! But by ~15-20 minutes into it, everyone was fully engaged in a > topic of their choice…**** > > **** > > For the Open Space, 26 topics were generated:**** > > 1. How can we bring fair justice in Liberia to make peace**** > 2. Living as an ambassador of genuine peace**** > 3. How to resolve land dispute**** > 4. Creating peace among learners**** > 5. Conflict Resolution**** > 6. How can we reconcile?**** > 7. What is the future after 2011 elections?**** > 8. How can we build peace in Liberia?**** > 9. Peace begins with us**** > 10. Culture into education**** > 11. Improvement of education sector**** > 12. Good working relationship**** > 13. What you can do to bring above peace?**** > 14. What it takes to be a community leader?**** > 15. Peace brings unity**** > 16. National reconciliation**** > 17. Forgive one another**** > 18. How to avoid bad governance**** > 19. How can Salem State University help Liberia?**** > 20. Methods of building peace**** > 21. Promoting peacebuilding implementations @ workplaces/ schools & > Universities/ communities/ churches/ government & institutions**** > 22. Democracy & good governance, leadership with integrity to have a > peaceful environment in Liberia**** > 23. Peace in the family**** > 24. Peace in 16 counties**** > 25. How do we protect the peace we enjoy?**** > 26. What Liberians stand to benefit should the peace process become > successful?**** > > **** > > Since there were no computers available and many people do not write, we > had a helper in each group help create a flipchart with key points > discussed and any action steps identified. Our Liberian Partners will > create a report that contains much of this information and will disseminate > it to each of the key groups that sent participants. I’ll keep you posted > on outcomes we hear of. Though already we heard there was quite a buzz > about what a successful and engaging event it was – and how people are > introducing the idea of circles and talking objects to their communities.* > *** > > **** > > All for now,**** > > Susan **** > > Susan Partnow**** > > ** ** > > And From Blake Mills – also from Liberia—**** > > ** ** > > Dear Harrison,**** > > >** ** > > > Just finished OS in an NGO office in Liberia that deals with malaria *** > * > > > prevention, treatment and education. (25 people, 13 topics, 1 day) In ** > ** > > > the closing circle, I wished you had been there and thought of you **** > > > everytime someone said "This is our heritage of how we use to do it **** > > > and it feels good." " This is the first time we sit together in 4 **** > > > years and it is because of our Liberian past ."" "It is how they do it * > *** > > > in our villages and now it brings us closer together and we can be one * > *** > > > team, one program." "This is the first time I have seen everyone smile * > *** > > > in our office." "People were fully engaged in the room." Immense pride * > *** > > > filled the room. (I was asked to go to this office to do some team **** > > > building. I think it worked, wouldn't you say?)**** > > >** ** > > > This team has gone through major transitions from working with **** > > > malarial concerns in an emergency situation, just after the war to **** > > > post emergency work; from one country director's style to an opposite ** > ** > > > country director's style; and a total change of expat management; all ** > ** > > > in the last 3 months. And, you know what the # 1 topic out of the 13, ** > ** > > > after they prioritized? LOVE, plain and simple and powerful. A **** > > > committee is now in charge of finding ways to express it in the **** > > > office. I think the country director was shocked at that choice but **** > > > even more surprised that a quiet man who pushes the broom, convened the > topic.**** > > >** ** > > > I was a bit worried for the first hour as it was very slow moving and ** > ** > > > I thought I had made the wrong choice, so I left the room and worked *** > * > > > on my laptop, to not control the group and close the space. Turns out, * > *** > > > no one had ever asked them before for their opinions. That was the > hesitancy.**** > > > The ball started rolling after the first time period.**** > > >** ** > > > So, my dear, Harrison...it all comes around and back to Liberia, you *** > * > > > and your brillance at capturing the essence of the African culture and * > *** > > > bottling it up for the rest of the world to sip. You have touched **** > > > their hearts deeply. In the closing circle, they didn't thank me...at ** > ** > > > first I was...gee, no praise for me bringing it to them...HA! "When **** > > > the best leader's work is done, the people say "We did it ourselves." > Lao Tzu.**** > > >** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > Harrison Owen**** > > 7808 River Falls Dr.**** > > Potomac, MD 20854**** > > USA**** > > ** ** > > 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)**** > > Camden, Maine 20854**** > > ** ** > > Phone 301-365-2093**** > > (summer) 207-763-3261**** > > ** ** > > www.openspaceworld.com**** > > www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)**** > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of > OSLIST Go to: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org**** > > ** ** > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Lori Palano > *Sent:* Friday, November 25, 2011 2:01 PM > *To:* Open Space Technology email list > *Subject:* [OSList] OST and funding crisis**** > > ** ** > > Hello all**** > > ** ** > > I have been lurking on this list for quite some time. I'm finally writing > to call upon your collective experience to find a couple of good stories > for a potential client. **** > > ** ** > > I am going to be discussing the possibility of using OST with an > international solidarity NGO who is in the middle of a funding crisis. Does > anyone have good success stories along this line that might inspire the > client to make an OST invitation?**** > > ** ** > > Thank you!**** > > ** ** > > Lori **** > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > >
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