Social Skills for "Coping" with Democracy and the Third Sector
Social Skills for "Coping" with Democracy and the Third Sector

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents experience from projects aimed at training citizens (especially environmental officers, municipal deputes and mayors) in group decision processes, public participation procedures, conflict resolution and mediation approaches. The general purpose of these activities is to assist in the building up of democratic "skills" in citizens with the power to make decisions. Organizations in the so called third sector play a significant role in this process of challenging "old" values and introducing "new" values via open communication. The author generalizes his experience of training programs which included hundreds of participants during the last three years.

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