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Convention

TatjanaInCyprus — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:34:49 CDT

Civil Society gears up for a dialogue on the island’s future

Nicosia, 12th April 2008 – The Civil Society Dialogue Project was holding a public Convention on 12 April at the Hilton Park Hotel in Nicosia. The partners of the project and the participants from various events presented the results and findings from the Civil Society Dialogue Project aimed at developing a vision for a common future in a re-united Cyprus.

The Civil Society Dialogue Project, which has two Greek Cypriot, two Turkish Cypriot and one international partner, is supported by UNDP-ACT and aims to revitalise the peace process in Cyprus by establishing a constructive dialogue between the two communities. Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot citizens - experienced and pro-active – will come together to share ideas and generate their common vision of the island.

Beginning in 2006, the partners organised several events which were designed to bring Cypriot Civil Society Organisations and pro-active individuals from both communities together to discuss ideas, share experiences and devise action plans for a common future on the island. The methodology of the Structured Dialogic Design Process (SDDP) has been applied throughout the project in order to facilitate a constructive and structured dialogue in so called co-laboratories among Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots. SDDP is a deeply reasoned and scientifically grounded methodology that helps inhomogeneous groups to resolve complex problems. Through the co-laboratories, groups of 15 to 30 participants are directly involved in developing a common framework based on a dialogic process that facilitates effective collaborative action.

The results of the following co-laboratories, events and trainings were presented to the public in the Convention and was afterwards opened to discussion:
- Peace Revival Co-laboratory
- Structured Dialogic Design Process Facilitator Trainings
- Structured Dialogic Design Process Open Lectures
- Media Literacy: Reading the News Between the Lines Conference
- Economic Integration Co-laboratory
- Famagusta Revival Co-laboratory
- Wiki (website-alike) Training
- Bi-Communal Environmental Symposium

The Civil Society Dialogue Project invited all interested Cypriots to participate in this bridge building event. The Convention started at 10:30 a.m. Lunch was served at 13.15.

Pictures from the Convention!!! Slide show of the pictures here.

Program in Greek: here.
Program in Turkish: here.

Pictures taken during the Convention

TatjanaInCyprus — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:20:02 CDT

Before the convention had started	Before the convention had started	Project Manager Hasip Erel (middle) and Project Coordinator Ilke Dagli
The audience	Dr. Alecos Christakis: Structured Dialogic Design Process	Dr. Alecos Christakis & the audience
The audience	The audience	Erol Kaymak: Peace Revival / Platres Colaboratory

Biz/Emeis TV show recording the event	Polis Anyftos: Peace Revival / Platres Colaboratory	Mustafa Damdelen: Economic Integration Colaboratory
Alexandros Lordos: Economic Integration Colaboratory	Loizos Afxentiou: Famagusta Revival Colaboratory	George Stavris: Famagusta Revival Colaboratory
Rosie Charalambous: Environmental Symposium	Dr. Aleco Christakis giving an interview for the TV show Biz/Emeis

Back to the main page of the convention

Cyprus Civil Society Dialogue

TatjanaInCyprus — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:01:51 CDT

Situation and Context

Check out the Convention

A Co-Laboratory process for Cyprus Civil Society Reconciliation has been underway since December 2006, and we share some of the documentation of the SDD process for others to learn from. Please also see the following pages:

Cyprus Dialogue Timeline
Co-Laboratory Process
Dialogue Team / Partners
Bi-communal Expert Workshop
Facilitator Training
First Lecture on CSD and Technology of Democracy
Second Lecture on CSD and Technology of Democracy
Seminar on Media Literacy with Prof. Gumbert and Drucker
Economic Integration co-laboratory
Famagusta co-laboratory
Cypriot's Voice co-laboratory
Training on using Virtual Co-Laboratories
Interviews with Dr. Aleco Christakis
Environmental Symposium

The political climate in Cyprus is not the most desired one, two years after the failure of the Referendums in Cyprus. The fact that Turkish Cypriots said yes to the Annan plan while Greek Cypriots rejected it has damaged the atmosphere of rapprochement after the opening of the checkpoints on the Green Line. After the Referendums, Turkish Cypriots feel rejected by the Greek Cypriot population, whereas Greek Cypriots feel misunderstood.

Although there are a few attempts from both communities to show their goodwill such as the missing persons committee, the Talat-Papadopolous declaration and proposal to set up technical and other committees, very little, if any, improvement in this atmosphere has taken place. The old game of ‘them’ and ‘us’ is back on the table, everybody blaming the other side at the political level with minimum involvement from civil society. There were attempts to bring the communities back together and discuss what actually went wrong with regards to efforts to unify the island based on the Annan Plan, no public debate has actually being held to this end. The north civil initiative that came up with the idea of creating a civil bi-communal initiative where the points that would comfort Greek Cypriots without discomforting Turkish Cypriots would be discussed and worked could not be extended to the south of the Green Line to include Greek Cypriot opinion.

At the same time, Bi-communal meetings are now not as widespread as they used to be years ago, even when crossings to each side were very difficult. Although there is hearsay evidence of cooperation between Cypriots, these most of the time go unnoticed. There are a few joint projects going on here and there, all of which are uncoordinated, unrecorded and without publicity that might bring more people into the dialogue and exchanges. Hence, it is obvious that there is a need to try to revitalise Cypriot society and creating a citizen’s dialogue which will act as a platform to affect the decisions affecting the future of the island and therefore the citizens.

Project Summary

The Civil Society Dialogue project will bring together civil society organisations from both sides of the island to share experiences and work to create a Citizens’ Platform where ideas are discussed and an Action Plan is devised to build the new reunited Cyprus. Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot citizens having years of bi-communal experience will come together with others who are not very experienced in that field but that are young, well educated and motivated individuals to share experiences and ideas and generate their vision of the island.

The project will consist of three phases. During the first phase a knowledge management team will be formed, that will train, manage and supervise the processes. Phase one is being conducted by the International partner of the project; the Institute for 21st Century Agoras over the Internet for five days using a special software called Webscope[1]. In this way, bi-communal veterans and young individuals living abroad will also have the opportunity to participate. Participants will need a computer and an internet connection to participate in the first phase. Three computers, will be set up at Cyprus EU Association’s premises for those not having IT access. After the current situation is analysed, problems and the ways of managing these problems are defined, a basic action plan will be derived by the group to reach others having different perspectives and political views within the respective communities. During the second phase, physical workshops, called co-laboratories, will take place where the future vison will be defined, together with the opportunities it presents and obstacles it poses for the realization of the ideal state of the island.

The long term goal of this project is to build a bi-communal think tank which will continually generate ideas and policies and will take part in shaping the future of the island within the European Union. The Cyprus EU Association will host the Think-tank and will support its activities by organising seminars, conferences, workshops and fund raising activities. Other partners will also help supporting the think-tank with their expertise and experience.

[1] This is a five step Web-based dialogue. More information can also be found at Lovers of Demoracy.

Methodology

The president of the Institute for 21st Century Agoras, Dr. Alexander N. Christakis, will be a part of the knowledge management team and co-manage and supervise the first phase using the Technology of Democracy approach.

In this way the project will take advantage of advances in systems science and the participative design of social systems, as described in two recent books, by Christakis; and by John Warfield.
Earlier peace building efforts between the two communities were based on the theory and models of conflict resolution. The difference of this approach is that it will be based on the transformative paradigm adapted from the work of the great systems thinker Hasan Ozbekhan, as described here.Every effort will be made by the project team to engage the requisite variety of perspectives and voices. Without the authentic participation of the stakeholders, the plausibility of a successful outcome from this project is diminished. We recognise, however, that this is a long range project requiring the normative perspective of the transformative paradigm, as conceptualized thirty-five years ago by the visionary systems philosopher Hasan Ozbekhan.

The approach will engage the stakeholders in designing peace building action plans, as compared to having others designing the action plans for them. There is sufficient empirical evidence that the "Technology of Democracy" approach, which has a history of 35 years of research, development and testing, works. (Refer to examples of reported successful applications).

Visit the article by Vigdor Schreibman for an update on this project:
http://loversofdemocracy.org/loversofdemocracy/CyprusCivilSociety.htm

And see Dr. Benjamin Broome's 2002 article on the Cyprus problematique: Participatory planning and design in a protracted conflict situation: applications with citizen peace-building groups in Cyprus

Cypriot's Voice Co-Laboratory

TatjanaInCyprus — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:08:36 CDT

7-8 June 2008, Venus Beach Hotel Famagusta

Problematique

After having welcomed the participants a member of the Cypriot's Voice gave a summary about the mission and vision statement of the Cypriot’s Voice, which had been discussed and identified before the co-laboratory in other meetings.
A brief theoretical introduction to the methodology using a power point presentation was given by Ilke Dagli for the participants. The steps to be followed within the methodology during the two sessions were made visual on a flipchart.
For more pictures click here.
For a picture slide show click here.

The participants generated 51 ideas for the following triggering question:
‘What are the obstacles that prevent us/Cypriots' Voice from reaching our ideal organisation and our objectives of the declaration and to fulfill our vision?’

After having clarified their obstacles, a small group clustered the 51 ideas under 6 categories which were presented to the participants following the coffee break. The clusters were discussed and agreed upon by the participants.

The cluster titles are as follows:
1) Lack of cooperation culture
2) Turkey related issues
3) Lack of economic integration
4) Perceptions
5) Current political environment
6) Cypriot’s Voice organizational weaknesses

Once the clusters were finalized, the participants used their five votes each and prioritized among the 51 obstacles that were generated. The obstacles which received the most votes were:

Factor 34: Worries among the group that financial needs are too difficult to overcome (6 votes)
Factor 43: Lack of economic integration and interdependence between the two communities (5 votes)
Factor 2: People have got used to the de facto situation – difficult to persuade them for a change (4 votes)
Factor 6: Lack of a registered organization with professional staff (4 votes)
Factor 7: A misleading mindset that a settlement will come from a negotiated settlement without pressures and encouragement from civil society (4 votes)
Factor 27: Insufficient effort to reach the public opinion in both sides and to enlarge the group (4 votes)
Factor 12: Lack of leading structure and especially lack of clarifications of its role, i.e. lack of an executive committee meeting periodically and making decisions about regular actions and others (3 votes)
Factor 14: Whilst this group having common targets we have different political analysis of the situation (3 votes)
Factor 23: Lack of powerful and independent NGP movements on both sides acting as pressure groups (3 votes)

The 9 obstacles that received three and more votes were then structured by establishing inter-relationships and their influences on each other by asking the following question:
‘Suppose we were able to make progress in addressing Factor A, will this help us SIGNIFICANTLY in addressing Factor B, in the context of searching for root causes?’

Finally, when the participants discussed about the influences of ideas on each other, the mapping/structuring session was completed and the following map was created. The participants discussed this result by sharing their comments and feedback with the other group members.

Action Plan
During the second session on the second day, the participants generated 31 action ideas for the following triggering question:
‘What specific action plan / action tools could the organisation / Cypriot's Voice adopt in order to overcome the diagnosed obstacles to fulfill its vision?’

Due to time limitations the clustering step was omitted. Therefore, after having clarified their action items, the participants used their five votes each and prioritized among the 31 action ideas that were generated. The action items which received the most votes were:

Action 4: Formalise the group and set up a management system with a website with an electronic discussion platform among the members and regular meetings of the executive board (7 Votes)
Action 26: Lobby against the violation of constitutional (RoC) and human rights of all Cypriots (7 Votes)
Action 8: Act as a think tank on issues like security, property, power sharing etc. and try to find win-win solutions(6 Votes)
Action 19: Set up a meeting to discuss the political differences among the members of the group (6 Votes)
Action 5: Set up three working groups to examine the financial/organisational, political issues, and how we exert pressure and influence on the leaders (5 Votes)
Action 14: Promote bi-communal confidence building measures and events and lobby for them (e.g. church services in the north, attitudes of the police at check points on both sides, streamline the admissions for historical places etc.) (5 Votes)
Action 21: Keeping in mind the time constraints the group needs to lobby for a memorandum of understanding to stop actions relating to sensitive issues e.g. settlers, property development etc. (5 Votes)
Action 28: Encourage the understanding amongst both communities about the other side's interests, emotions, moral values (develop empathy) (5 Votes)
Action 11: Be alert, work on concrete proposals and interventions to make possible economic integration and interdependence of the two communities (4 Votes)
Action 31: Promote respect to the cultural heritage as a unifying factor in a multicultural society (4 Votes)
Action 16: Form a committee for fundraising and writing project proposals to be able to finance the organisation and raise public awareness to reach the objectives of the group (3 Votes)

The 11 actions that received three and more votes were then structured by establishing inter-relationships and their influences on each other by asking the following question:
‘Suppose we were able to make progress in addressing Action A, will this help us SIGNIFICANTLY in addressing Action B, in the context of searching for root causes?’

Finally, when the participants discussed about the influences of ideas on each other, the mapping/structuring session was completed and the following map was created.

Pictures taken during the Cypriot's Voice Co-Laboratory

TatjanaInCyprus — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:51:01 CDT

Cypriot's Voice	Cypriot's Voice	Cypriot's Voice
Sarper Ince, facilitator	Ilke Dagli, facilitator	Youli Taki, facilitator
Problematique: List of Obstacles	Problematique: Voting Results	Problematique: Voting Results
Problematique Categorization: Group Voting	Problematique Categorization: Group Voting	Action Plan: Individual Voting
Action Plan: Individual Voting	Action Plan: Individual Voting	Action Plan: Individual Voting
Action Plan: Individual Voting	Action Plan: List of Actions	Action Plan: Voting Results
Action Plan: Voting Results	Action Plan: Voting Results	Action Plan: Voting Results
Action Plan Mapping: Group Voting	Action Plan Mapping: Group Voting	Action Plan Mapping: Group Voting
Action Plan Mapping: Group Voting	Action Plan Mapping: Group Voting

Back to Cypriot's Voice Co-Laboratory

Famagusta Revival Co-Laboratories

TatjanaInCyprus — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:46:27 CDT

Addressing Famagusta/Varosha - a place of interaction, communication and cooperation of Greek and Turkish Cypriot Famagustians that will serve as an example for a future united Cyprus and will act as a catalyst for solving the Cyprus problem

For more pictures click here: Pictures Famagusta Co-Laboratories or Social Dialogue Cyprus.
For an excerpt of the report click here: Famagusta Report.

At the end of September 2007, the Civil Society Dialogue Project had been approached by Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot individuals from Famagusta to get a bi-communal movement started with regards to Famagusta, in particular Varosha. This bi-communal movement of Famagustians could then serve as a sample for the peace process in Cyprus.

The objective of the Famagusta Revival Co-Laboratories was to envision the ideal Famagusta/Varosha, to identify the obstacles that prevent Famagustians from achieving the ideal model as well as to explore actions that can be taken to reach the vision. More specifically, the Famagusta revival co-laboratories aimed at:

envisioning the ideal model of Famagusta/Varosha,
identifying the obstacles, and
designing an action plan.

The co-laboratories used a face-to-face and online blended approach. In total, four bi-communal co-laboratories took place between November and December 2007:

10 November 2007, 9:00 - 18:00 – Venus Beach Hotel, Famagusta
17 November 2007, 9:00 - 18:00 – Lordos Beach Hotel, Larnaca
04 December 2007, 16:00 - 20:30 – Fulbright Center, Nicosia buffer zone
08 December 2007, 16:00 - 19:00 – Fulbright Center, Nicosia buffer zone.

1st session, 10 Nov 2007: Vision
The first co-laboratory was dedicated to envision the ideal model of Famagusta. The co-laboratory started with the welcoming of the 17 participants - who were all either Greek Cypriot (8) or Turkish Cypriot (9) Famagustians, an introduction of the facilitation team, and an introduction to the Civil Society Dialogue Project. Then, a brief theoretical introduction to the SDDP methodology was done for the participants.

The participants generated 68 ideas for the following triggering question:
‘What are descriptors of an ideal model of Famagusta/Varosha, a place of interaction, communication and cooperation of Greek and Turkish Cypriot Famagustians to serve as an example for a future united Cyprus and to act as a catalyst for solving the Cyprus problem?’

After clarifying their ideas, a small group clustered the 68 ideas under 9 categories, which were presented to the participants following the lunch break. The clusters were discussed and some ideas were moved around in accordance with the discussions. Once the clusters were finalized, the participants prioritized the descriptors generated by voting for the 5 most important ones among the total of 68 ideas. Descriptorsthat received the most votes were then structured by establishing the inter-relationships and their influences on each other.

2nd session, 17 Nov 2007: Finalization of Vision & Problematique
The second co-laboratory was used to finalize the ideal model of Famagusta/Varosha. After a short review about what has been done during the last co-laboratory the 16 participants (6 Turkish Cypriot, 10 Greek Cypriot Famagustians) were encouraged to suggest changes to the clusters, which were discussed and decided upon among all participants. After the clustering was completed, new participants were given the change to add their ideas to the list and clarify them. Those new ideas were entered into the software, and categorized into one of the existing categories. Another round of voting took place in order to receive more convergence among the participants’ opinion on the relative importance of the ideas and in order to take new ideas into consideration as well. Those ideas that received more than 4 votes were structured within the already existing map by establishing inter-relations among them as well as their influences on each other. The structuring was finalized with 14 ideas in total.

After the vision co-laboratory was finalized, the problematique co-laboratory begun with the idea generation of obstacles. The participants generated 71 obstacles in response to the following triggering question:
‘What are obstacles that prevent us from achieving the ideal model of Famagusta/ Varosha?’

3rd session, 04 Dec 2007: Finalization of Problematique
The third co-laboratory focused on the finalization of the problematique, i.e. the current situation with its obstacles. The co-laboratory started with the clustering of the 75 obstacles, which were generated during the second co-laboratory at Lordos Beach Hotel as well as via email communication. The obstacles were categorized in 13 clusters. The 14 Famagustians (8 Greek Cypriot, 6 Turkish Cypriot) then used their five votes and prioritized among the 75 obstacles generated in order to individually chose their five most important obstacles of the current situation. After voting 11 obstacles were structured by exploring the inter-relationships among them and their influences upon each other. The result was a root cause map that demonstrated these relationships.

4th session, 08 Dec 2007: Action Plan with Dr. Christakis
After Dr. Christakis gave a methodological introduction, the 13 participants (6 Turkish Cypriots, 7 Greek Cypriot Famagustians) worked in pairs and interpreted the vision map of the first co-laboratory and the obstacle map of the third co-laboratory.
After the recap of these results, this co-laboratory started with generating ideas for an action plan as responses to the triggering question 'What are action options which if we adopt and implement, we will overcome the obstacles and achieve the ideal image of Famagusta/Varosha?' The participants generated 36 action options in total, which were clarified and then categorized under 10 clusters. The participants prioritised among the 36 actions generated. 12 actions received two or more votes. Actions that received most votes are:

Action 6: 'Continue this initiative at further stage as a think tank group and advocay group with the idea of establishing a communication strategy with the assistance of the EU' (6 votes),
Action 22: 'Seek the assistance of international organisations, especially EU and UN in surpassing the current community division in Famagusta' (6 votes),
Action 31: ' Produce illustrations of the ideal Famagusta and exhibit them in the streets of the inhabited Famagusta and also in Deryneia' (5 votes).

This session ended with an evaluation of the Famagusta Revival Co-Laboratories.

5th session, 30 Jan 2008: Finalization of Action Plan
10 Cypriots (7 Greek Cypriots, 3 Turkish Cypriots) met again to finalize the action plan co-laboratory as well as to review the draft report and to establish future steps and working groups. After the welcoming of the participants and the presentation of the meeting agenda, the participants prioritized among the agenda points and decided on the flow of the meeting. The draft report, the content describing the previous sessions, results as well as the process were presented to the participants and reviewed.
It was agreed that the group must firstly express the willingness of the two communities to live together and take actions with regards to Famagusta/Varosha, before coming up with a joint proposal.
12 actions out of 36 which received 2 or more votes in total were structured. The group finalized the action tree and discussed and interpreted the results. The facilitation team then suggested establishing smaller working groups on specific actions to prepare project proposal drafts and possible future steps. Participants agreed that the whole group should work on action 6 collectively which is the root of the tree. After designing a communication strategy together, the group will then assign the tasks to smaller groups. A smaller group made of 6 participants volunteered to finalize the report and interpret the results.

Next steps: final co-laboratory & project design
As Dr. Christakis recommends, our first next step is to engage the Famagustians in the last co-laboratory in order to construct an effective priorities tree, the Tree of Action, by focusing on the 12 actions that received two or more votes (see Table 5). By discovering the most effective actions, which will be at the roots of the Tree of Action, Famagustians will be able to concentrate their efforts more effectively and implement those actions with the highest leverage.
The second next step is for the Famagustians to focus on the root actions by drafting project proposals of how to implement these generated action options in order to overcome the obstacles to reach the ideal Famagusta.

For an Excerpt of the Report please click here.
For a Summary Report please click here.

If you wish to receive the full report please contact the project coordinators:
Ilke Dagli, ilkedagli@gmail.com
Tatjana Taraszow, tatjana_cy@yahoo.ca

For more pictures that had been taken during the sessions please check Pictures Famagusta co-laboratory or Social Dialogue Cyprus.

Co-Laboratory on Economic Integration

TatjanaInCyprus — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:23:04 CDT

Addressing Economic Integration and Free Movement of Goods and Services within Cyprus and the EU

In July 2007, experts in economic and business related issues from both communities were invited to a series of 3 successive co-laboratories on the issue of economic integration and free movement of goods and services within Cyprus and the EU.

The objective of the co-laboratories was to exchange ideas and explore future options and goals with respect to economic integration and free movement of goods and services in Cyprus besides diagnosing the current problems.
More specifically, The Economic Integration co-laboratories
aimed at:

idealizing the desired situation,
identifying the current economic situation on the island and
designing a realistic action plan.

The co-laboratories used a face-to-face and online blended approach. Three face-to-face interactive meetings, which were backed up by e-mail communications, were foreseen within the SDD process. Each face-to-face meeting lasted approximately three hours long and aimed at constructing a structured dialogue among participants.

The co-laboratories took place on:

3 July 2007, 18:30-21:30 – Holiday Inn, Nicosia
10 July 2007, 18:30-21:30 – Saray Hotel, Nicosia
27 July 2007, 18:30-21:30 – Fulbright Center.

The steps that were followed and the timelines for the completion of each step are described below. The participants did not have any responsibility during the application of the co-laboratory except contributing and sharing their ideas through the process.

Step 1: First Session: 3rd July 2007, Tuesday
The co-laboratory began with a discussion on the triggering question I: “With the aim of economic integration, what are the benefits (opportunities) for Cyprus, of free movement of goods and services within Cyprus and the EU?”
The participants were given the chance to ask for clarifications on the triggering question before the co-laboratory. After a brief explanation of the methodology, the group started generating ideas on the benefits of free movement of goods and services within Cyprus and the EU.
Further discussion took place on the following topics:

Future of Cyprus and potential integration methods
Obstacles that should be taken into consideration when discussing future integration
Descriptions of potential problems
The “Green Line Regulation”
Deadlock on EU trade with third countries
Whether economic integration is a vehicle to achieve a political goal to an ultimate Cypriot solution.

The co-laboratory ended after the participants had the chance to clarify some of their generated ideas.

Step 2: E-mail Communication: 4th – 9th July 2007
As participants are experts in their fields with busy schedules, further communication had been undertaken via e-mail communication. The participants had been asked to prioritize and vote among the ideas generated in the first session. Then, the participants were asked to respond to the second triggering question, which aimed at diagnosing the problematique, over a period of six days by means of e-mails.

Step 3: Second Session: 10th July 2007, Tuesday
After a brief introduction and review of the Results of Session I, the participants went through the clarification process of the ideas generated in response to the triggering question II: "With the aim of economic integration; what are the obstacles including perceived threats in achieving free movement of goods and services within Cyprus and the EU?” Later on, voting, prioritization among the ideas generated for the second triggering question and discussing the relationships among the ideas and then structuring them into a root map took place.

Step 4: Third Session: 27th July 2007, Friday
The last part of the co-laboratory was dedicated to designing an action plan. After a brief introduction and review of the results of sessions I and II, the participants generated ideas on tools and activities, which can be used to achieve the ideal situation drawn in the first session. The participants were thus, asked a third triggering question:“With the aim of economic integration: what actions should be taken to overcome the obstacles and to reap the benefits in achieving free movement of goods and services?” The group generated ideas for the above triggering question. The co-laboratory was completed after the idea generation. It was agreed that further e-mail communication would be carried out to share and discuss the results.

Section of the Report

Twenty-two business and economics stakeholder representatives with diverse perspectives and experiences participated at the three successive bi-communal workshops on 3, 10 and 27 July 2007. During the first workshop, which was dedicated to jointly visualise and describe the desired situation, i.e. the envisioned Cyprus with respect to economic integration and free movement of goods and services within Cyprus and the EU. Economics and business experts identified 48factors that describe the benefits / opportunities for Cyprus of free movement of goods and services. The second workshop aimed at identifying the current situation with its obstacles and perceived threats in achieving the envisioned Cyprus—economic integration and free movement of goods and services within Cyprus and the EU. The stakeholder representatives identified 62of these obstacles and perceived threats. During the final workshop, economics and business experts proposed 27actions to achieve economic integration in Cyprus and therefore to both overcome the obstacles and to reap the benefits in achieving free movements of goods and services within Cyprus and the EU.

If you wish to read the full Economic Integration Co-Laboratory Report please click here.

Interview by Economic Experts who Participated in the Co-Laboratory
Costas Apostolides and George Stavris, two participants of the Economic Integration Co-Laboratory shared their experience with and opinions on the SDDP methodology and the co-laboratory with the public during a radio interview with Rosie Charalambous at CyBC 'Round and About'. Please click at Social Dialogue Cyprus if you want to listen to it.

For pictures that had been taken during the sessions please check Pictures Economic Integration Co-Laboratory or Social Dialogue Cyprus.

Facilitator Training

TatjanaInCyprus — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:54:13 CDT

Training Session 1 with Dr. Aleco Christakis, 13-15 April 2007

A 3-day training for trainers took place between 13-15 April 2007, which was organized by the Civil Society Dialogue Project in order to give interested and active individuals the possibility to become a trained facilitator of the Structured Design Dialogue Process (SDDP). A total number of 17 people received the training.

Dr. Aleco Christakis, one of the founding fathers of the SDDP who promotes structured dialogue as an instrument for achieving democratic actions and outcomes, had been invited as an expert to come to Cyprus to give this training for trainers.

Through the years, the method has been refined to emerge as a methodically grounded dialogue practice which now is supported by a software specifically designed for this purpose (i.e., Cogniscope). Together with Dr. Ken Bausch, Dr. Christakis has recently published the book “How People Harness their Collective Wisdom and Power” to bring democratic dialogue closer to people.

The training activity gave the partnership the opportunity of sharing good practices, getting training on the facilitation methods specific to SDDP to junior facilitators as well as senior facilitators for both the project and the society in general.

For a selected series of pictures that had been taken during the 3-day training for trainers please click here: Pictures Facilitator Training or Social Dialogue Cyprus.

Training Session 2, 17 May 2007

On 17 May 2007, a follow-up facilitator training session was hold. The main purposes of this session was not only to train the facilitators in SDDP but also to give a brief training on the CogniScope software, to establish cohorts (facilitation teams) that will facilitate specific co-laboratories, to assign one topic to each cohort, and to discuss the 'Co-laboratory Application Plan' that was kindly provided by the project's international partner.

The training began with an overview of the CogniScope software. The software was introduced to the participants and different buttons, functions, and menus were explored. Basic practical information was given on how to use the software, however it was also emphasized that the best way to learn the use of CogniScope is to experiment on personally. The group of facilitators then discussed the cohorts and finalized four teams, which will undertake the first four co-laboratories namely; environment, media, political parties, and economic integration. The Co-laboratory Application Plan, which sets out the stages and necessary things to do when organising a co-laboratory, was then discussed. Finally, the roles and responsibilities of various individuals and teams such as the cohorts, partner, Steering Committee, and Knowledge Management Team were discussed and agreed upon.

Excerpt of Famagusta Revival Report

TatjanaInCyprus — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:48:08 CDT

This report documents the results of three co-laboratories, which took place on 10 November 2007 in Famagusta, 17 November 2007 in Larnaca, 4 & 8 December 2007 and 30 January 2008 in Nicosia.

The co-laboratories were:

Famagusta Revival – Defining an Ideal Model
Famagusta Revival – Defining the Problématique

Famagusta Revival – Defining an Action Plan.

The three co-laboratories were implemented using a structured democratic dialogue method known as Structured Dialogic Design Process (SDDP). The participants produced 77 ideas in the Defining an Ideal Model co-laboratory, 75 obstacles in the Defining the Problématique co-laboratory and 36 ideas in the Defining an Action Plan co-laboratory. Following a process of clustering, selecting and exploring influences among different ideas, the participants came up with three influence maps. The mapping process enables the diverse group of Famagusta stakeholders identify the root causes that contribute to their problematic situation and highlight the ideas that will be most influential in their goal to realize an ideal model of Famagusta/ Varosha to serve as an example for a future united Cyprus and to act as a catalyst for solving the Cyprus problem.

In the ‘Famagusta Revival – Defining an Ideal Model’ co-laboratory the most influential driver was descriptor 76 (A common think-tank to provide policy advice to everyone involved in support).

The root cause in the ‘Famagusta Revival – Defining the Problématique’ co-laboratory was factor 63 (Lack of understanding and discussion of citizenship, subsidiarity, diversity, human rights and secularism).

In the ‘Famagusta Revival – Defining an Action Plan’ co-laboratory the most influential driver was action 6 (Continue this initiative at further stage as a think tank group and advocacy group with the idea of establishing a communication strategy with the assistance of the EU).

If you wish to receive the full report of the Famagusta Revival Co-laboratory, please contact one of the local organizers:
Ilke Dagli, ilkedagli@gmail.com or
Tatjana Taraszow, tatjana_cy@yahoo.ca.

Pictures of the Famagusta co-laboratory are here or here.

Back to Famagusta Revival page.

Global Events Calendar

peterjones — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:14:32 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

The Blogora

peterjones — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:06:25 CST

For designing a better world through transformative dialogue

Richard Rorty, American thinker and philosopher of social justice, said moral insight “is a matter of imagining a better future, and observing the results of attempts to bring that future into existence.” This is a core function of democratic action dialogue as promoted by structured dialogic design.

Welcome to Agoras for Dialogue. An agora is a public place for meeting and exchanging, a commons of ideas and interaction. The Agora of Athens birthed Western democracy, creating a venue for public exchange of ideas among Athenians. The Web offers new possibility for open exchange and democratic expression, which we offer in "Blogora."

Our challenge of supporting authentic dialogue in cyberspace confronts many groups, cultures, and disciplinary communities across the globe. In this artificial world, we need to construct new ways of supporting dialogue. You have entered a marketplace of ideas where we embrace this challenge.

Join us!

First, join us in conversation on this collaborative wikisite. Make comments now, or request access (via Wetpaint) to be a "Writer" to make your own pages to express ideas for exchange with others.

Next, join us in dialogue. We are a community of disciplined dialogue practitioners, advocates of Structured Dialogic Design (SDD), enabling people from all walks of life to experience a new geoemetry and a new technology of democracy.

A free software offer for democratic design and collaboration *

Then, let us together take on the complex challenges of our time to which we are called. Among these are the challenge of peacemaking in our world and comunities. The Blogora hosts coverage and conversation of the current breakthrough projects in Cyprus.

Also see the article by Vigdor Schreibman on the Cyprus Civil Society dialogues.

Dialogue for Democratic Action

This conversations on the Blogora wiki actively engage the practices of dialogue for democratic action and transformation. Should you browse this site, you will see some of us have strong ideas about effective process. We do not believe we have the only answers. We invite you to share your ideas.

Join us in conversation about the power of dialogue and the paths to social and organizational transformation. Some of you may believe that dialogue is an end in itself. Others have different ways of progressing to democratic action. If we share our methods with open minds, we may find powerful agreement toward proceeding together in wicked problems.

* The offer of the download of Cogniscope I continues, in memory of our friend Dr. Hasan Özbekhan, Club of Rome co-founder and original systems thinker who created the foundation for the practice of structured dialogic design.

Welcome. Ken, Tom, Peter, and Aleco

And friends at:

The Institute for 21st Century Agoras	Harnessing Collective Wisdom
Dialogic Design International	Lovers of Democracy

P.S. Yes, it's a wiki not a blog, but Blogora worked better than Agorawiki. Feel free to link to your blog from here, and vice-versa. The value is in the network, in the exchange.

Browse the whole site quickly using the Sitemap!

Agoras - Action in the World

peterjones — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 17:54:01 CST

1) Designed and managed the International Society for Systems Science (www.ISSS.org) conference in Crete, Greece, taking place in July of 2003. The theme of the conference was: "Conscious Evolution of Humanity: Using Systems Thinking to Construct Agoras of the Global Village." Ken and I were co-chairs of the conference, and I served as the President of ISSS during 2002-2003.

2) Aleco served as the Editor of the "Wisdom of the People" issue of Systems Research and Behavioral Sciences (SRBS), Volume 21, 2004, dedicated to the proceeding so the Crete conference.

3) In 2004, Ken served as the Editor of a "World Futures" issue dedicated to the proceedings of the Crete conference.

4) In the last 5 years, we staged at least 60 co-laboratory projects (approximately 12/year) with stakeholders from around the world both in the USA and internationally. At least ten of those were called "Wisdom of the People Forums" and were designed and conducted by our colleagues the Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO) and the Advancement of Maori Opportunity (AMO), with indigenous people as participants. Another ten projects focused on the issue of peace and reconciliation of the Cypriots.

5) We designed and conducted two planetary dialogues with people from Australia, New Zeeland, South America, North America, China, Greece, Cyprus, etc. These events were conducted using the Internet for interaction among the participants. As a result of this experience, we have now developed and tested the capability to conduct virtual co-laboratories. We have collaborated with our colleagues in Cyprus in the evolution of the software for doing this virtual work.

6) We published at least four chapters in books on systems thinking. Most of these chapters were dedicated to the role of the SDDP in the context of the global Problematique.

7) We published about 10papers in refereed journals, such as SRBS, International Journal of Applied Systemic thinking, World Futures, and others. Recently, Peter Jones presented our jointly-authored paper on Dialogic Design for the Intelligent Enterprise: Collaborative Strategy, Process, and Action at the INCOSE 2007 conference.

8) We trained teams in Cyprus, Michigan, and Portugal in SDDP and the use of the Cogniscope II software.

9) We worked with private company clients in Europe and the USA in supporting their strategic planning activities.

10) We served in a variety of Boards, such as ISSS, AIO, SRBS, etc.

11) We supported the efforts of the US Department of Agriculture in its efforts to address the complexity of the invasive species threat, facilitating solutions thinking for this wicked problem with the National Invasive Species Council.

12) We completed the second generation Cogniscope software and manual and made the first generation software available free as a download on this site. At least 50 people have downloaded the software and presumably are using it in their practices.

13) We completed the first generation virtual co-laboratories software capability. We will be soon training our AIO/AMO colleagues to use it with indigenous people around the world, which is very exciting and has major implications for the future of indigeneity as envisioned by Board member LaDonna Harris .

About Us

peterjones — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 17:46:23 CST

Aleco Christakis	Tom Flanagan
Peter Jones	Ken Bausch

Pictures taken during the Environmental Symposium

TatjanaInCyprus — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:59:28 CST

The organizers	The organizers	The audience
The audience		The audience
Lyndon Taylor, Terra Cypria - Environmental Studies Centre	The audience	İbrahim Alkan, Chamber of Environmental Engineers

The audience	The audience	Derviş Yüksel, Mediterranean Wind Association
Hasan Sarpten, Biologists Association	Media coverage	Rosie Charalambous, Cans for Kids
The audience	The audience	The audience
Osman Kallaoğlu, Friends of Karpaz	Doğan Sahir, Green Peace Action	Evangelos Katsiambirtas, University of Thessaloniki

Back to Environmental Symposium page

Homepage of the Civil Society Dialogue Project

Cyprus Environmental Symposium: Our Shared Future

TatjanaInCyprus — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:57:54 CST

The Civil Society Dialogue Project with the Chamber of Environmental Engineers organized an environmental symposium on 12 January 2008 in Kyrenia. A number of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot environmental groups gathered to hold a public symposium on environmental issues affecting our island with the aims of providing an opportunity to point out alarming environmental problems Cyprus is facing, raise awareness and call for action.

Pictures!

Environmental Symposium Program

11.00 Opening Speech: Hasip Erel, Cyprus EU Association
11.30 First Presentation: Lyndon Taylor, Terra Cypria
“Sustainable Nature and Wild Life”
11.50 Second Presentation: İbrahim Alkan, Chamber of Environmental Engineers “Construction Boost”
12.10 Third Presentation: Hasan Sarpten, Biologists Association
“Global Warming”
12.30 Fourth Presentation: Derviş Yüksel, Mediterrannean Wind Association
“Karpazia Natural Park”
13.00 Lunch
14.10 Fifth Presentation: Rosie Charalambous, Cans for Kids
“Waste Disposal”
14.30 Sixth Presentation: Osman Kalfaoğlu, Friends of Karpas “There is no other Karpas”
14.50 Seventh Presentation: Doğan Sahir, Green Peace Action
“Renewable Energy Resources”
15.10 Eighth Presentation: Evangelos Katsiambirtas, University of Thessaloniki
“Global Warming: Myth or Fact?”
15.30 Close up

Watch Pictures here!

After a short welcoming and opening speech by Ilke Dagli and Hasip Erel the environmental symposium started with approximately 135 interested people and the first presentation by Lyndon Taylor from Terra Cypria – Environmental Studies Centre about ‘Sustainable Management of Nature and Wildlife – Why does it matter? What are the priorities in Cyprus?’ Mr. Taylor started with giving short definitions of and the differences between preservation, non-intervention, and conservation. He then explained that a sustainable management of ecological systems is interdependent with a sustainable management of economic, social, and political activities. However, priority can’t be given to only one of these three dimensions but must be given to all while keeping the focus on the environmental foundation stone. Regarding the natural environment, according to Mr. Taylor, the key point to get clear in our minds is: “Healthy, fully functional, sustainably-managed ecosystems are a REQUIREMENT for human economic and social well-being on this planet”. Furthermore, Mr. Taylor clarified the concept of ‘ecosystem good and services’. Finally, examples of the consequences of Ecosystem Goods and Services breaking down were given. Some of them are: the impact of climate change on a global, regional and local scale, economic effects in Cyprus of poor management of water, overgrazing, frequent use of artificial pesticides in agriculture. The presentation was finished with giving examples in Cyprus of soft goods and services in Troodos, Akamas, and Karpas.

İbrahim Alkan from the Chamber of Environmental Engineers followed with the presentation ‘Construction Boost and the Impact on the Environment’. Mr. Alkan described the planning and constructing situation in the northern part of Cyprus. He began his speech by stating that the construction boost in the northern part of Cyprus began after the failure of the Annan Plan. The planning system in the north is based on temporary directives only that are usually used for urgent measures in planning. Some areas don’t have any planning instruments at all. Therefore, not surprisingly planning is very week in the northern part of Cyprus and with the construction boost causing environmental problems. Furthermore, construction activities are based on sustainable development principles to establish infrastructure without taking into account or respecting the environment. Moreover, the ‘Physical Country Plan’ was supposed to become active and the Committee to be established four years ago. After the description of the planning and construction situation, Mr. Alkan focused on the negative effects of the rapid and unplanned construction on water resources, sewage systems and their non-existence in some cities, garbage and waste disposal as well as the increased production in the stone quarries.

Derviş Yüksel from the Mediterranean Wind Association was supposed to give a speech about Karpas, and the Karpazia National Park. Instead, he gave a review of past activities of the Mediterranean Wind Association as well as the court case the Association is running.

:-) Pictures here

Hasan Sarpten from the Biologists Association gave a speech on ‘Global Warming’. He first gave a general overview to the climate change, then listed the effects of the climate change, and in the end presented possibilities of what to do. With respect to the climate change Mr. Sarpten presented a definition of the greenhouse effect and its correlation with global warming. Citing various studies, the author gave examples and numbers of the increase as well as the sources of the greenhouse effect. Regarding the effects of global warming and the climate change, Mr. Sarpten started to list the effects that had already happened and continued to talk about the effects that scientist measure and believe to yet come. He focused on the effects that Cyprus will have to face, as there are: decrease in rainfall levels, decrease in the water levels of ponds, regress in agricultural production, and change in biological diversity. Towards the end of his presentation, Mr. Sarpten presented the recommendation package of the Biologists Association. This package includes the following 12 articles: prevention of deforestation, prevention of constructions in coastal areas, control of exhausting gases, public transportation, introduction of filters to the thermal power plants, reform in garbage, introduction of dust reduction systems in stone quarries, planning as a must, production of drought resistible products, introduction and usage of preventive measures, organization of energy saving campaigns, and education about climate change.

‘Tackling waste management and recycling in Cyprus’ was the topic of Rosie Charalambous’ presentation from Cans for Kids. She started her presentation by illustrating people’s associations of the words rubbish and waste management. Besides an increase of the total amount of waste in Cyprus within the last years – a 3.2% increase in 2007 compared to 2005 – the annual average waste of Cypriot residents (741 kg per resident) is much higher than the European average (517kg per resident), being one of the highest in Europe. According to these statistics, Ms. Charalambous concluded that Cyprus is producing too much waste while efforts to reduce the amount have failed. However, despite efficient waste management supposed to be relatively easy on an island the size of Cyprus, interest in waste management as well as understanding of the factors involved is lacking. Ms. Charalambous then pointed out the challenges that organizations face which want to increase recycling in Cyprus. Some of these challenges mentioned are: lack of public awareness, confusion among those who are aware due to inconsistent messages by government agencies and local authorities, lack of co-ordination between different agencies attempting to implement recycling. For recycling to work in Cyprus, Ms. Charalambous was therefore calling not only for easy recycling schemas but also for the public to be informed and hence see the benefits of recycling. The author finished her presentation about giving a re-cap of when, how, and with which goals Cans for Kids was formed. For many years, Cans for Kids had been the only organization implementing recycling strategies in Cyprus.

In his speech ‘There is no other Karpas - Sustainable Karpas’, Osman Kalfaoğlu from Friends of Karpas presented observations and thoughts of the public living in Karpas. He started by explaining the term sustainability as well as discussing why this term has become one of the most important concepts in humans’ lives. He did so by mentioning the industrial revolution and rapid development in science and technology as well as dwelling on social and economic aspects of sustainable development. Mr. Kallaoğlu then shifted his focus to Cyprus, more specifically to the Karpas area. He debated on the impacts the construction sector has on the environment in Karpas: decrease in tourists, noise and visual pollution, damage of olive trees and ravines, exploitation of the mountains, the coasts being turned into concrete. Only recently, a project started to bring electricity to the very edges of the peninsula threatening the Karpas National Park, he emphasized. Along with the electricity project the judiciary did not and still does not support a sustainable development of the peninsula and protection of the National Park. The National Park is now an open area for hunting, showing a low level of consciousness of the government towards national parks on the one hand and the northern Cypriot administration’s only aim at economic development on the other hand. Friends of Karpas is in favor of eco-tourism than mass tourism in order to prevent damages to the environment as well as to enable high quality introduction to the Cypriot culture and nature. But here again, decision makers’ words and actions regarding pilot projects are contradictory and do not support the implementation of eco-tourism. After having given a summary of the biological diversity and cultural/historical heritage of the Karpas Peninsula, Mr. Kallaoğlu concluded that Karpas is a unique place on earth that needs to be treated as one if we do not want to watch its beauty on photographs only.

Doğan Sahir from Green Peace Action gave a presentation on ‘Renewable Energy Resources’ that could be easily implemented and used in Cyprus due to its location in the Mediterranean with plenty of sun and water. Mr. Sahir started by speaking of the pro’s and con’s of each non-renewable energy resource. He then introduced various renewably energy resources that are in use all over the world, e.g. solar power, hydro power, wind power etc) and should be applied in Cyprus as well soon.

After the last official presentation, Evangelos Katsiambirtas from the University of Thessaloniki was invited to give a short presentation on 'Global Warming: Myth or Fact?' Mr. Katsiambirtas started his presentation by pointing out that many people confuse weather and climate; they talk about climate and climate change but in reality mean weather and a change in the local weather. As climate change is a long-term trend that cannot yet be evaluated, climate change in the sense public is using this term does not exist. Also, in accordance of various calculations that he performed and presented, Mr. Katsiambirtas argued that the phenomenon of global warming is a myth rather than a fact. He said that we have a global cooling rather than a global warming with a decrease of temperature at many locations. Nevertheless, he supports initiatives to protect the environment.

Click here to see pictures

learning about wikis - some pictures from the training session

TatjanaInCyprus — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 05:24:25 CST

Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.
Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.
Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.

Using Virtual Co-Laboratories for Structured Dialogic Design

TatjanaInCyprus — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 04:57:49 CST

Dr. Alexander N. Christakis and Ms. Gayle Underwood

During their stay in Cyprus, Dr. Aleco Christakis and Ms. Gayle Underwood gave a training on using virtual co-laboratories for Structured Dialogic Design. The training took place 04 December 2007.

Recently, pioneers in the development of SDD have begun to experiment with deploying the methodology through the Internet. Early success includes the use of the methodology to structure the backbone of the Civil Society Dialogue Project aiming to revitalize the peace process in Cyprus (see: http://www.blogora.net/page/Cyprus+Civil+Society+Dialogue).

Dr. Christakis and Ms. Underwood’s project includes the use of internet technologies, specifically Wikis and Blogs for conducting mixed presence SDD co-laboratories, i.e., asynchronous and synchronous. The asynchronous interactions (different times, usually at different places) are primarily focused on the tasks of generation, clarification, and voting on the relative importance of the factors describing the problem situation and its resolution. The synchronous interactions (face-to-face at same place, or different places at the same time) are focused on the task of exploring relationships of similarity and influence among the factors and the discovery of graphic patterns, such as Root Cause Maps. They have created a generic Wiki for applying the virtual SDD process of authentic dialogue. This Wiki is used as the starting point for creating other wikis that are customized to meet the specific needs of projects using the SDD process. (See: http://cyprusmedia.wetpaint.com/ as an example of a Wiki that was customized from the Generic Wiki).

The use of a Wiki is for several purposes. First it is a storage place for all the information participants need to participate in the SDD process. Information about SDD, directions for using the Wiki, as well as information about their specific issues are all stored on one site, in easy to access pages of the Wiki. Another purpose of the wiki is for all stakeholders to create an on-line community for structured dialogue. The WetPaint Wiki includes a feature that allows participants to hold virtual conversations consisting of someone posting a statement and others replying to the post, similar to a Blog. When a participant enters information on the Wiki their picture is automatically included next to their information. This helps to humanize this approach. Probably the most important purpose of the Wiki is that it allows the SDD process to be self documenting. The virtual conversations are captured in one place for everyone to see, the tables and reports generated through the Cogniscope software are placed on the Wiki, participants can watch the process unfold online as well as be able to go back to it years from now to revisit their project.

Participants of this training learned what a Wiki is, how to create one and how it can be used in the SDD process. Activities during the training included:

Introduction to Wikis and Blogs
Small groups create their own Wiki
Introduction to the Generic SDD Wiki
Customizing the Generic Wiki (Observation of Cyprus Media Wiki)
Tips and Tricks for working with Wikis
Discussion on using Internet Technologies for SDD
Discussion on Wikipedia as an example of a Wiki.

Pictures taken during the Famagusta co-laboratory

TatjanaInCyprus — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 05:32:47 CST

Famagusta co-laboratory, 11 Nov 2007; Marios Michaelidis facilitating	Famagusta co-laboratory, 11 Nov 2007; Marios Michaelidis facilitating	Famagusta co-laboratory, 11 Nov 2007
Famagusta co-laboratory, 11 Nov 2007	Famagusta co-laboratory, 11 Nov 2007	Famagusta co-laboratory, 11 Nov 2007
Famagusta co-laboratory, 17 Nov 2007; Voting	Famagusta co-laboratory, 17 Nov 2007; Ayca Celik, Polis Aniftos, & Marios Michaelidis facilitating	Famagusta co-laboratory, 17 Nov 2007; Voting
Famagusta co-laboratory, 4 Dec 2007; Clusters	Famagusta co-laboratory, 4 Dec 2007	Famagusta co-laboratory, 8 Dec 2007; Dr. Aleco Christakis facilitating
Famagusta co-laboratory, 8 Dec 2007; Dr. Aleco Christakis facilitating	Famagusta co-laboratory, 8 Dec 2007; Silent Individual Idea Generation	Famagusta co-laboratory, 8 Dec 2007; Idea Clarification
Famagusta co-laboratory, 8 Dec 2007; Idea Clarification	Famagusta co-laboratory, 8 Dec 2007; Voting	Famagusta co-laboratory, 8 Dec 2007; Voting

Structured Dialogue to enable Business Processes

peterjones — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:32:54 CST

Participatory democracy is a powerful tool in all social enterprises. The business community has long had (financial) incentives to make democracy work ... at least at the level of collective planning. For this reason the link between business strategy and civic discourse will have some profoundly convergent moments.

This page will seek to catalogue some of those moments. Please post within this page or as comments.

Deliberative Democracy and Co-Labs

kenbausch — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 20:54:25 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.