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Dr. Eileen Borris Principal 480-951-0544 Email Dr. Borris Latest Developments |
Tibet Training in Dharamsala for the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan Women's Association May - June 2010
Initially when Dr. Borris began her work with IMTD, the training programs had worked exclusively with the Tibetan Government in Exile. However with an increasing interest and demand for conflict resolution skills from within in the Tibetan community, it was decided to extend invitations to attend the training to professionals within the Tibetan community and to partner with The Tibetan Centre for Conflict Resolution (TCCR). By doing so people from all levels of society are now able to have access to learn conflict resolution skills. TCCR is also able to provide participants with local support system and follow up day courses in Tibetan which helps maintain participant's motivation and interest while strengthening the five day training.
The week-long course highlighted building skills in basic conflict resolution, mediation, problem solving and dialogue while also creating space for in depth discussion sessions on how to approach and work with forgiveness and reconciliation both personally, professionally and within the community. The training was designed for participants to have hands on experience and to be highly interactive with activities such as group discussions, role plays and simulations. Documentaries were also shown not only as examples of the material but also as sources of inspiration and examples which could be adapted to the context of the Tibetan Community.
Evaluations of the course done by the participants at the end of the training showed they not only enjoyed the training and learned a lot but had their perceptions and assumption on conflict resolution changed. Participants were eager to discuss, work together and saw great value in helping each other learn. The training was inspiring with many vowing to begin conflict resolution awareness and training in their schools and workplaces. Dr. Eileen Borris along with all the participants felt that the training was very successful. Participants also voice great interest in attending other trainings given by Dr. Borris. June 2009 From 8 June 8 through June 12, 2009, Dr. Eileen Borris and Program Officer Dhirendra Nalbo from the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy carried out a training course in Conflict Resolution and Multi-Track Diplomacy for 23 young Tibetan professionals. This was Dor. Borris's 5th training with the Tibetan government. Dr. Borris's work with the Tibetans has been instrumental and effective not only to the Tibetan Government in Exile (TGIE) but also to various non-governmental and socio-politically active organizations operating in Dharamsala, India. In this training, for the first time, monks attended from different Monasteries who wanted to establish a linkage between conflict resolution and Buddhist religion in their work. Other politically and socially active organizations i.e. National Democratic Party of Tibet, Tibetan Youth Congress, Institute for Buddhist Dialects, and Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies also sent their representatives to participate in the training. A week-long training course covered skills in Peacebuilding, Multi-Track Diplomacy, Facilitation and Dialogue, Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Multi-Track World, and Reconciliation. The training was highly interactive and throughout the session all participants actively involved in group discussions and various simulations. At the end of the training session, participants were asked to express their thoughts and experience on the training. Most of them said that this was both the most interesting and most useful training course that they have ever attended. They expressed their deep gratitude to Dr. Borris and her team and requested in further training, particularly on Negotiation and Mediation. June 2008 From June 23 through June 27, 2008, Dr. Eileen Borris, Ambassador John McDonald, and Program Officer Elizabeth Murray carried out a five-day training course in Conflict Resolution and Diplomacy for 22 young Tibetan professionals. The course was held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Fifteen of the course participants were civil servants employed by the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, India, and seven of the course participants were representatives from local non-governmental organizations. In total, nine departments of the Central Tibetan Administration were represented in the course: the Department of Religion and Culture, the Department of Security, the Department of Finance, the Department of Health, the Planning Commission, the Department of Education, the Department of Information and International Relations, the Supreme Justice Commission, and the Department of Home. Four Tibetan non-governmental organizations were represented in the course, including the Active Non-Violence Education Centre, the Tibetan Women's Association, the Tibetan Centre for Conflict Resolution, and the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. The participants' ages ranged from 22 to 42 years old, and the average age was approximately 29. Five of the participants were born in Tibet and fled into exile as children, and the remainder were born and raised in exile in Tibetan settlements in India. More than 80% of the participants had completed at least the equivalent of a Bachelor's Degree, and one had completed a Master's Degree. Twelve men and ten women participated in the course. Dr. Eileen Borris was the principal trainer, and Ambassador McDonald trained for approximately two hours per day. Elizabeth Murray coordinated the logistics of the trip and the development of the training materials. Topics covered in the course included Basic Skills in Conflict Resolution, Conflict Analysis, Communication Skills, Fundamentals of Facilitation and Dialogue, Mediation, and Negotiation. All of the sessions were highly interactive and participants had the opportunity participate in group discussions and several simulation activities. The course was extremely well received by all of the participants, who expressed their heartfelt thanks to the IMTD team and also asked that a more in-depth course be offered in the future. Many of the course participants said that this was both the most interesting and most useful training course that they have attended to date. During the closing session, every participant was able to articulate ways that they would use what they learned in the course in both their professional and their personal lives. Furthermore, the participants indicated that the five-day course would be greatly useful to many of the approximately 400 more civil servants who are employed by the Tibetan Government. Following the completion of the five-day workshop with the Central Tibetan Administration, Dr. Borris held a one-day workshop with 23 representatives from the Tibetan Women's Association. The group was comprised of 17 Tibetan women and 6 foreign women, hailing from the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, and the United States. Approximately six of the group members work in the Tibetan Women's Association's office and another six serve as elected officers of the Association. Five members of the group work as "mothers" who care for groups of Tibetan orphans in Dharamsala, and the remaining six were completing internships with the Association. IMTD corresponded with the Tibetan Women's Association prior to the workshop in order to determine the group's training needs, and the two themes that the Association requested were Leadership and Trauma Healing. The morning session of the workshop was dedicated to the theme of Leadership. Dr. Borris first opened with a general discussion of leadership and then broke the participants into smaller groups and instructed them to read a parable about leadership, answer some questions, and present their ideas to the larger group. This stimulated a lively group discussion about leadership during which many of the participants shared instances where they exhibited strong leadership skills. After lunch, Ambassador McDonald provided the group with a brief explanation of the concept of multi-track diplomacy as well as several anecdotes about IMTD's work. Dr. Borris then gave a presentation on Trauma and Trauma Healing and answered both general questions about the concept and specific questions relating to traumatized Tibetan refugees. The group then watched the documentary As We Forgive, which presents the story of several Rwandan families who healed from the trauma that they experienced. Afterwards, Dr. Borris led a discussion about the video, and Ambassador McDonald and Dr. Borris closed the session by presenting certificates of participation to the group. The training was very much appreciated by the group, who were very interested in learning about Trauma Healing. They asked that the IMTD team return to Dharamsala in the future to continue the training.
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From May 31st until June 5th 2010, Dr. Eileen Borris and Program Officer Ms. Linda Noble from the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy (IMTD) carried out a week-long training course on Conflict Resolution and Multi-Track Diplomacy for twenty one young Tibetan professionals.
The participant's consisted of seven women and fourteen men; their professions ranged from teachers and school guidance counselor to political activist, members of women's groups, government workers, NGO staff and one person who worked with the rehabilitation of ex-political prisoners. The participants not only came from the Dharamsala area but also traveled to the training from Darjeeling, South India and various districts in the Himachal Pradesh region. Participants were mostly interested to attend the training so they could learn and use conflict resolution skills in their professional lives, while the teachers were very interested to practice and teach conflict resolution to their students. Participants were also very interested in learning how they could build and maintain positive relationships with the Indian community as well as manage and resolve conflict more effectively when it arose.