Enhancing Life Skills, Dialogue and Engagement
Across the globe, people are experiencing emotional insecurity, social isolation and lack of purpose on unsustainable levels. Social divides undercut the very fabric of our communities and societies. To secure our future it is urgent that we recognise, support, and develop the dormant potential in people, relationships and groups. This can feel like an overwhelming task, yet research reveals that social change starts small – within individuals – and is enhanced through meaningful relationships and active social engagement.
Crossing Borders Education aims to support a new generation of conscious individuals who inspire and lead their peers to develop resilience, nurture their relationships and build bridges across social and cultural divides. At CBE, our driving questions are:
- How can we create spaces that help people reconnecting to their best selves?
- How can we facilitate authentic engagement between people from different backgrounds?
- How can we inspire skilled purposeful action?
Our Goals
Our answers are found in the three goals that structure our work:
- Strengthen Individuals: by cultivating awareness, critical reflection and wellbeing skills to enhance personal resilience and leadership.
- Rebuild Relationships: by training dialogue skills and practicing conflict transformation directed at reshaping social interaction to bridge social and cultural divisions with intentional empathy.
- Inspire Actions: by developing collaboration skills and human networks that strengthen social engagement with creative purpose.
These three goals are interwoven – they depend on and simultaneously strengthen one another. For example:
- To strengthen individuals, they need positive relationships and meaningful engagement.
- To heal tense relationships and bridge divisions within and between communities we need individuals with the strength to sustain the heat of disagreement, move beyond their comfort zone and engage in honest dialogue.
- To support people to take meaningful social action motivated by informed solidarity, they need to know how to collaborate effectively and be connected to inspiring communities of strong individuals.
