Solidialogues x Goethe-Institut
2021
Remote-first in London (UK), Prague (CZ), Athens (GR), Brussels (BE), Moscow (RUS), Cairo (EG)
Project Lead | Facilitation | Production | Data Analysis
*in collaboration with newkinco
System Dialogue
Highlights
Over the last few years, we have all been confronted with an array of challenges including climate change, a global pandemic, economic uncertainties, and a sense of disorientation. All this in even more fragmented societies and political landscapes, leading to critical segregation. To address this issue, we were commissioned to create a 2-day online citizen’s assembly to explore how solidarity can serve as an antidote to populism.
Through insightful conversations between participants from diverse backgrounds and regions, the project encouraged dialogue and inclusion as tools to bridge the gaps exacerbated by global challenges and political polarisation. Beyond being an event, Solidialogues served as a catalyst for change, inspiring individuals worldwide to seize unity, inclusion, and understanding as a means to address complex societal issues and shape new narratives.
Solidialogues was launched as a collaborative effort among six Goethe-Institut regions (London, Prague, Athens, Brussels, Moscow, and Cairo).
The Challenge: to shape new narratives against polarisation
Solidialogues sought to counter the rise of polarisation by reaching beyond bubbles and echo chambers. Our goal was to activate a global network, providing safe spaces to exercise understanding and suspend judgment, building social cohesion, and leveraging public participation.
After posing the seed question, “How can inclusive solidarity serve as an antidote to populism?”, we subdivided the dialogues into 30 sessions to delve into topics ranging from knowledge and democracy, or tolerance and society, to community, space, memory, solidarity, and beyond.
Working together with the different Goethe-Institut offices and newkinco, a digital agency specialised in online events, we placed an open call for participants, making sure to also include a curated selection of policymakers, activists, and thinkers that would be, at the same time, participants and facilitators. We received applications from 49 countries, and more than 200 individuals joined the event.
Applying a similar approach to the one we used with our own community event, dialogues.one, we customised and implemented all the necessary technology for production and communications, created the branding for the event, and onboarded everybody to the dialogue methodology.
The result: new lines of research to address and bridge polarisation
After the event, we analyzed the data to identify underlying themes in the exchanges, aiming to uncover new potential avenues for collaboration between the network and like-minded institutions. As an initial outcome, the Goethe-Institut and Arbeit im Europa are continuing to expand the project's scope, while many community members engaged through Solidialogues are now actively collaborating.
