From June 23 through June 27, 2008, Ambassador John McDonald, Training Director Eileen Borris, 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, IMTD 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.