Although I am far from being an expert on the subject, I did some work in the Middle East and had the opportunity to facilitate mixed groups of Israeli, Palestinians, Lebanese and others in their effort to dialogue and launch co-operation projects.

One of the good things about those project was that participants were ordinary people, mostly members of small NGO’s that had as a primary concern other issues than the ongoing conflict in the region. Talking to each other and starting a cooperation was in large part just instrumental to access public funding from international institutions.

Paradoxically, I think that particular mix of participants maximised the outcome in terms of peace building. The fact that meetings were not targeting peace activists avoided the “preach to the converted” situation, and the fact the issue at stake was not “peace in the middle east” prevented the discussion to reach a standstill (participants had to challenge only some of their beliefs in order to co-operate, and not all of them, all together). Read the rest of this entry »

Remember my wife’s post on TED?

Well, a couple of days ago TED released the latest talk from Hans Rosling… Another great one, both content-wise and for the way it is delivered. Enjoy!

If you follow this blog regularly, you already know that I have a thing for ads.

A powerful ad relies on a blend many factors: a compelling message, an original concept, the ability to shoot and cut a film, the capacity to telling a story, originality, conciseness… just to name a few. A powerful ad -- at least to me -- is a form of art on its own.

The ad here below was done by the Anderson M Studio for the Te Kaunihera Pukapuka o Aotearoa (yes, I know… I could have used the English name for it… but would you have clicked the link, then?) who states:

Like no other human activity reading opens up our imagination. It enables us to understand those around us. It allows us to project the future and reach back into the past. Reading can entertain, challenge and educate. We believe that reading can transform people’s lives. Our mission is to inspire more New Zealanders to read more.

In my opinion, the only shortcoming of the ad are its sound effects: too many, too heavy, too loud… (it makes difficult to follow the narrating voice) but other than that, I find the ad to be awesome!

There are some times in life, when one feels the need for new emotions, ideas, inspiration and insights. A book is one great and indispensable source for that but most books will probably require dedicating some hours before one sets foot in the author’s world of ideas.

What if your time is so valuable that all you have was 18 minutes?!

In this case, I go to TED!

A few years ago a colleague of mine introduced me to this website by forwarding the link to the following talk:

Read the rest of this entry »