The Peacebuilding Podcast : From Conflict To Common Ground

Susan interviews Loretta Raider, a seasoned practitioner of organization development, conflict resolution and large group processes. In response to severe election-related violence, Loretta gives a detailed account of a multi-faceted approach to working throughout Sierra Leone using parts of Future Search, Open Space, conflict resolution and other methodologies to pre-empt future violence. Subsequent elections were peaceful and, while it is hard to be sure of the reasons, it is easy to assume that Loretta and her partners’ work contributed to that outcome. Loretta also talks about more recent initiatives to build positive change and peace in communities throughout Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis and recovery period. Check shownotes @ http://thepeacebuildingpodcast.com

In this episode, Zach describes his extensive experience in different conflict-affected societies from Iraq to East Timor. Our conversation focuses on the conventional wisdom in the field that interventions must be systemic – “peace writ large” – if they are to be effective, and contrasts that thinking with the question of whether smaller initiatives – “peace writ small” -- can make a profound difference, particularly in pervasive, intractable conflict. Zach tells a specific and very moving anecdote about an event in 2005 Iraq in which a single intense interchange between participants embodied many of the identity group tensions in the war-torn country, while shifting the group to a different and much more cohesive place.

Susan interviews Gay Rosenblum –Kumar, a seasoned United Nations veteran, about her early career as a U.N. peace observer in South Africa and her later initiatives to co-develop the U.N.’s system of Peace Development Advisors (PDA’s). She provides examples of PDA initiatives in Ghana and Guyana, offers keen insight into the evolution of the peacebuilding field inside the U.N., and talks briefly about her most recent work with GAAMAC on genocide prevention.

Join host Susan Coleman as she interviews Ava Bynum, the 23 year-old Executive Director of Hudson Valley Seed (and Coleman’s daughter). Ava talks about what kids learn when they build gardens and grow vegetables – skills like cooperation, patience and an understanding of the natural processes of life that nurture peace. Bynum also talks about how school gardens can be a focal point for collaboration and building communities beyond the classroom.

Join Susan Coleman as she interviews Krister Lowe, an organizational psychologist, Leadership and Team Coach, and the Creator of the Team Coaching Zone podcast. In this episode, Krister talks about his journey from early peacebuilding and global conflict resolution training interventions to the decision to focus on team coaching as a methodology to create scalable collaborative systems change.

Join global consultant and host, Susan Coleman, as she talks with Naghmeh Sobhani about a 15 year program Naghmeh ran in post-conflict Bosnia to build peace through education. Naghmeh is a collaborative negotiation, post-conflict peacebuilding and conflict prevention consultant with expertise in developing and monitoring large-scale initiatives especially within fragile, divided zones.

Join Global Coach and Mediator, Susan Coleman and special guest Peacebuilder, Lindsay Cornelio, as Lindsay describes her master’s degree program in Peacemaking and Peacebuilding at New York University Global Affairs program and her subsequent application to a local peacebuilding initiative in Bushwick Brooklyn.

Join Susan Coleman as she interviews Pablo Restrepo, a premier negotiation, leadership and strategy consultant. They reflect together on Pablo’s 20+ career in the trenches of working on assignments such as the Colombia-U.S. Free Trade Negotiations, working with ex-combatants from Colombian paramilitary groups, such as the FARC and M-19, and working with Susan at the UN International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia (UNICTY). Pablo reflects on the question of individual consciousness as a barrier to real transformation as discussed by psychologist, Robert Kegan and spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle. Show Notes http://thepeacebuildingpodcast.com/negotiations-to-build-peace-in-colombia-pablo-restrepo-saenz-podcast/

In the first episode of The Peacebuilding Podcast, Susan Coleman, host of the podcast, provides an overview of the podcast and her life and career. For show notes and more complete information, please go to thepeacebuildingpodcast.com.