Are you interested in learning how to talk to people with different values? How can we deal with people with whom we fundamentally disagree? We invite you to a series of webinars on depolarization with renowned expert Lukáš Zorád.
Whether dealing with government, business, or other actors, representatives of civil society organizations often come into contact with people who have completely different opinions or values. Sometimes, in these situations, dialogue seems almost impossible... We will explore how to overcome these barriers to communication together with Lukáš Zorád from the non-governmental organization Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia.
We see this escalating. More and more people in our daily lives are asking: How do we deal with those we strongly disagree with? How do we even talk to them? And how do civil society organizations work with people who hold opposing values?
In this session, we will examine the barriers to communication with people who hold seemingly opposing values, and at the same time discuss how to create a call-in culture (as opposed to call-out or cancel culture) in a highly fragmented and divided society. We will examine successful case studies and because there are so many issues and topics to navigate, we will look at proven and tested communication principles and strategies that unite people rather than divide them.
How can the way we frame an issue influence our ability to move our cause forward when engaging with public authorities, businesses, or other organisations?
In this session, we will examine the group dynamics of dialogues on polarizing topics—what happens in people’s minds when the same issue is framed differently, what works, what doesn’t, and how we can challenge our own approaches to advance our causes. We will present several examples from outstanding research in this field and explore how this knowledge can be applied to our own work. The session will be somewhat experiential and challenging, so come with an open mind.
The webinars are intended for representatives of civil society organisations and will be held in English. Please note that registration is required separately for each webinar.
Lukáš Zorád is the director of Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia, he has been active in civil society movements since 2006. Over the years, he has managed numerous projects focused on the prevention of extremism and depolarisation. He organises the annual international conference Civic Actors in Conflicts. He began his career in environmental education and nature conservation projects. He worked on development initiatives in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Sudan. There, he gained extensive hands-on experience in bringing together divided communities—a line of work he has continued to pursue since returning to Slovakia in 2016.
The event is organized by Glopolis as part of the Stronger Roots Program. The program is funded by the European Union and implemented by a consortium composed of Glopolis and the Open Society Fund Prague in Czechia, the Open Society Foundation Bratislava in Slovakia, the NIOK Foundation in Hungary and Stefan Batory Foundation in Poland.
