Young Tibetans Attend Workshop on Leadership, Conflict Resolution
Dharamsala, 21 June: Thirty Tibetans are being given tips on diplomacy, leadership and conflict resolution at Gangchen Kyishong, the secretariat of the Central Tibetan Administration. A workshop conducted by Institute for Multi-track Diplomacy in coordination with the Department of Information and International Relations began this morning at the Lhakpa Tsering memorial hall of the department.
The participants are from the various offices of the Central Tibetan Administration and the various Tibetan non-governmental organisations.
Ambassador McDonald, Dr. Eileen Boris and Steven Krubiner are the three resource persons who will be interacting with the participants of the workshop which ends on 25 June.
The association of the Institute for Multi-track Diplomacy with the Tibetan community dates back to 1992 when it began its first diplomacy training in Dharamsala. Since then, the institute has been involved extensively in conducting workshops for the Central Tibetan Administration and Tibetan NGOs.
The Department of Information and International Relations said in a letter sent to the participants that the workshop will help the emerging leaders of the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan NGOs to work more effectively in resolving conflicts in a variety of settings.
“It will provide skills to young Tibetan leaders to work skillfully with their Chinese counterparts and also to educate young Tibetan leaders in the dialogue process”, the letter said.
Ambassador John W. McDonald is a lawyer, diplomat, former international civil servant, development expert and peace-builder, concerned about world social, economic and ethnic problems. He spent twenty years of his career in Western Europe and the Middle East and worked for sixteen years on United Nations economic and social affairs. He is currently Chairman and co-founder of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, in Washington D.C., which focuses on national and inter-national ethnic conflicts. In February 1992, he was named Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Mason University’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, in Fairfax, Virginia. McDonald retired from the American foreign service in 1987.
Established in 1992 and based in Arlington, Virginia, the mission of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy is to promote a systems approach to peace building and to facilitate the transformation of deep-rooted social conflict. The Institute is chaired by Ambassador McDonald. It has 1237 members in 31 countries.
Dr. Borris is a licensed clinical psychologist, political psychologist and educator/trainer who is committed to the work of peace-building, conflict resolution and reconciliation especially in emerging democracies. Her focus is on working with ethnic and regional groups in conflict, working in the framework of multi-track diplomacy. A special interest area is in incorporating forgiveness and reconciliation processes within the broader context of conflict resolution. Dr. Borris has worked extensively in this field for over 20 years.