On 24 September, a group of twelve people joined the ‘Connecting Communities Through Listening Skills and Empathy’ workshop. The workshop took place at the Estonian Dialogue Academy’s office in Telliskivi Creative City. The participants came from a variety of backgrounds and represented six different nationalities.
Following an opening address by Bart Cosijn, the founder of the Estonian Dialogue Academy, the participants discussed their personal interpretations of the concept of ‘community’. This brought many different perspectives on the concept to the fore. Next, everyone was invited to assess their own ability in five dialogue practices. They evaluated their ability to listen attentively to others, respect different opinions, express their own ideas and contribute to open conversations, for example. This exercise forms part of the Teach Peace project, which is currently being developed by the Estonian Dialogue Academy in collaboration with international partners.
Trust
In the second part of the workshop, participants engaged in a dialogue exercise exploring the question, ‘What is trust?’ The conversation quickly became profound, touching upon aspects such as: Can you keep trusting someone who does not fulfil their promises? Is trust always transactional? Can you trust others while freeing yourself of expectations? And more. As time was running out, we briefly discussed the role of empathic leadership in communities and in connecting them with each other.
Follow-up
The workshop draws inspiration from both Estonian and Dutch cultures and is part of Multicultural Kalamaja 2026. Together we agreed that a follow-up will be organised to give people the opportunity to apply the lessons of this workshop to their own communities. After the workshop, several participants decided to continue the conversation in a bar in Telliskivi Creative City.
This workshop was part of:
And was made possible by these supporters:
