Together with my dear friend and colleague, Arlene Audergon, I co-led a six-year United Nations funded project in Croatia called Building Sustainable Community In The Aftermath Of The War. We worked with large mixed groups of Serbs, Croats and Muslims on ethnic tension, reconciliation, human rights, and post-war trauma.
There is a lot I could say about that project. But perhaps the best thing would be to let it speak for itself. Here is an article that Arlene and I published about our work there. Click here to read it.
And here’s a link to Back To Our Future: A Handbook for Post-War Recovery that Arlene Audergon, Jean-Claude Audergon, and I wrote together with the great folks at Udruga MI in Croatia. This handbook explains why we need conflict facilitation and community development after war, breaks down our model, explains how to create and facilitate open forums in a post-war setting.
Please also check out Arlene’s powerful and riveting book, The War Hotel. She helps us understand how violent conflicts are created and even manufactured, how past trauma and fear are stirred up and manipulated. The book is filled with examples from our work in the Balkans, as well as examples from conflicts around the world.
Arlene and I also worked in Kosovo. I worked in Macedonia together with Jean-Claude Audergon, who is also a dear friend and colleague. Here’s a video describing a bit of our work in Macedonia.
Greg Nees wrote a beautiful book, Connecting Hearts and Minds: Insights, Skills, and Best Practices for Intercultural Success. In two of his chapters, he details the work Arlene and I did in the Croatia, weaving together descriptions of what happened, Process Work concepts that were utilized, and his own analysis and wisdom.
Here is a picture of me and Arlene preparing for a group process during a break in a forum outside of Split, Croatia.
