TWA holds one-day women's empowerment workshop on Leadership Skills, Trauma, Healing and Reconciliation in conjunction with IMTD, USA Section
On 28th June, 2008, TWA hosted a one-day event in Dharamsala to teach 22 young Tibetan women invaluable leadership skills, and techniques for dealing with traumatic events in their lives. The 22 participants benefited from the considerable experience of 3 members of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, an academic institution based in the USA, who combined group exercises, leaflets and a video to illustrate their methods. Ambassador John McDonald (a US diplomat first appointed by President Jimmy Carter. He has worked in UN affairs and is a major peace keeper. He has been working all over the world as a conflict resolution specialist), Dr. Eileen Borris (Director of Training) and Elizabeth Murray impressed the group by relating their experiences of dealing with challenging political situations - this inspired some of the ladies to share their stories too.
The day began with introductions as each woman explained her reason for attending and what she hoped to learn. Many planned to use their newfound skills in their professional lives as NGO workers, and some hoped to impart their knowledge to others in order to perpetuate the important sharing of skills to other Tibetan women. With the introductions complete, Dr. Borris began with a tale describing a powerful leader. Once divided into small groups, the women had the task of analysing the tale and gathering their opinions on what skills make a good leader. The ladies were proud to hear that their collective ideas had impressed Ambassador John and that they had succeeded in providing a more comprehensive list of desirable leadership skills (such as compassion, patience, a sense of humour) than some business students in top-class US universities had done when carrying out the same task!
Dr. Borris continued with handouts detailing the importance of emotional intelligence, (recognising and regulating your emotional behaviour), and how this precious skill was something that men and women should seek to develop. Ambassador John then took charge of proceedings by describing the theory behind Multi-Track Diplomacy, explaining that in order to achieve peaceful outcomes to political problems, it is vital to have the co-operation and co-existence of such organisations as the government, NGOs, businesses and private citizens.
The women were then asked to consider an experience in their lives where they felt they had demonstrated good leadership skills. It soon became clear that every woman already possessed some natural leadership skills so Dr. Borris encouraged the group to consider areas of leadership behaviour that they needed to strengthen and develop - this gave the women a useful insight into how they could become better leaders in future.
After a delicious buffet lunch the group reconvened to begin the second part of the workshop, focusing on the psychology behind trauma healing. This began with an hour-long video about the Rwandan genocide and the efforts being made there on the parts of victims and perpetrators to move on from their traumatic experiences and bring peace to their hearts and minds through forgiveness. Dr. Borris explained that she felt it was important for the Tibetan communities to draw on their own deep-rooted cultural beliefs and practices to aid the healing process, rather than use imported Western techniques that might not be relevant. She cited His Holiness the Dalai Lama as an excellent source of support and the assembled ladies agreed that their faith always provided great comfort and strength. The TWA wishes to thank the representatives of the IMTD and the ladies present for an enjoyable and positive workshop.