Transforming edges into bridges in communities

TILDE
Transformative and Inclusive Leadership
from Deep Democracy

TILDE is an innovation project that aims to contribute to social inclusion in Europe, and specifically to promote the dialogue in the migration field in partner countries, through creative processes based on leadership, conflict transformation and creativity.

We plan to achieve this by

  1. Creating together dialogue around Migration: How to live together in the same world
  2. Applying Deep Democracy framework (that shows up in different spaces/ways: Open Forums, Conflict Facilitation & Inner Work)
  3. Increasing awareness on the field of Migration in Europe.

The project shares with participants the innovative framework of Deep Democracy method, which welcomes diverse voices and helps create deeper empathetic dialogue.

In doing so, the project will strengthen participants’ creative, social, civic and intercultural competencies, and directly help them to confront and engage with challenging issues such as discrimination, segregation and racism, by developing their leadership and conflict transformation abilities and competences.

We will do this by integrating various artistic forms such as STORYTELLING, THEATER, PLASTIC ARTS, MUSIC, DANCE and MOVEMENT, PHOTOGRAPHY, etc.

This project is financially supported by

What is DEEP DEMOCRACY
and PROCESS WORK ?

Deep Democracy is a philosophical and sociological approach that is applied worldwide to facilitate conflicts in small and large groups, communities, organizations, as well as interpersonal relationships.

It is based on the belief that democracy as normally understood – the democracy of the majority – needs to include and to add the awareness of all
voices, feelings and more subtle experiences that are present in the interactions between people within a group, moment by moment.

The Deep Democracy approach suggests to notice and give value to different levels and dimensions crossing group experiences: the CR (consensus reality) level, the most visible and tangible reality that we experience and that we all can agree on; the dreamland level, where we can find dreams and marginalized or double signals, deep goals and basic visions of individuals and organizations; the essence level, the realm of subtle experience and feelings that can hardly be expressed in words.

All these levels are equally important in the perspective of deep democracy.
Moreover, it is important to take into account the diversity of rank and power dynamics, to allow all voices to be fully expressed, and to make visible unintentional communication signals as well as the subtle and sentient experiences that can hardly be talked about.

When all these aspects emerge, individuals or groups can acquire new awareness and find more creative solutions to their problems.

Deep democracy approach to conflict facilitation comes from Process oriented psychology, also called Process Work, that has come out from the research studies of Arnold Mindell in 1988, a physicist and a jungian follower, who combined the post-jungian philosophy with quantum physics, taoism, shamanism, transpersonal psychology and somatic psychology.

The term process refers to the flow of information and changes in perception and signals that occur within a group or in an individual, moment by moment. Process-oriented facilitation is a phenomenological approach that focuses on sensing and respecting the flow of events, starting from the underlying belief that within each problematic situation, even the most difficult, lies the solution of the problem itself.
In a group we can look at what occurs in a certain energy field, which patterns we can observe and how we can become aware of them.

Process work is applied not only in therapeutic contexts but also in working with people in groups and organizations.

Typical applications are working with dream analysis, body awareness experiences and also the applications to how things work in the world. Process work also deals with social inequality, diversity themes, conflict and leadership.

WHAT IS AN OPEN FORUM?

An open forum is a public space in which a community can get to know better the diversity of ideas and feelings among its members. In this space every point of view is important and welcome.
The forum begins with a small group of speakers who open the meeting with short speeches of 6-7 minutes each, representing the main positions around the topic that will be discussed. Right after the space of discussion opens to free interventions from all the participants.
The facilitators will hold and support this space by making sure that all the voices, including the ones that are less popular and difficult to be expressed and heard.

Blog: last post

OPEN FORUM in Padova to present TILDE results

The final event for TILDE project was organized the on May 5th 2023 at Arcella’s neighboorhood community house “Marchesi living lab”, in Padova, Italy. Arcella is the most multicultural neigborhood in Padova, often at the center of political controversies and tensions between the people who live there, for this reason the choice of the venue had a special […]

“HOME” Berlin Open Forum

In our current time of movement and crisis, what does home mean for us? Is it something we are glad to have? Something we are afraid to lose? Or is it something we have lost? Something we are longing to retrieve? Perhaps we have never felt at home, or perhaps home is something that we […]