Community conversations
The NMF Centre of Memory and Dialogue community conversations are a continuation of work started in late 2007 focusing on HIV prevention. The conversations are preceded by social mobilisation events and culminate in dialogue which provides the opportunity for the community to create concrete plans to tackle the epidemic.
Related News
Healing starts with understanding history
June 26, 2009 – The need for healing to overcome the divisions of the past emerged as the central concern at a community conversation in Atteridgeville, near Pretoria, on June 20.
Organised by the Nelson Mandela Foundation in partnership with the Sonke Gender Justice Network, the Jesuit Refugee Services, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, the National Children’s and Violence Trust, and the Somali Association of South Africa, the community conversation in Atteridgeville was the first of a series of community dialogues in Gauteng province to promote social cohesion in communities affected by violence and xenophobia.
Community conversations teams refine their techniques
May 22, 2009 – Community conversation teams gathered from around the country, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, to continue their training in the Community Capacity Enhancement (CCE) methodology (link to downloadable PDF).
The six-day workshop, from Tuesday, May 19, to Sunday, May 24, looked to gather feedback from the teams on the facilitation of the community conversations to date, and to review the theory and application of the CCE methods and tools used in the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s community conversations programmes.
Residents map out a way to live together in harmony
May 6, 2009– “If a person belongs to a different tribe or party, or if they express a different opinion, it doesn’t mean that they are your enemy. We need to understand one another,” said one of the participants at a community conversations workshop in Yeoville, Johannesburg today.
This conversation was the second held in Yeoville, a multicultural suburb where many immigrants live. It forms part of a series of conversations about social cohesion that will be convened around South Africa by the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The facilitators and community members took up issues that were raised at the previous conversation and explored them further.
Photos
Related Publications
Community Conversations booklet
The booklet explains the methodology that was chosen for this series of dialogues on HIV/AIDS, records the communities’ concerns and plans, and reflects on lessons learnt.