Civil Dialogue: Peer conversations among unlikely equals

For over 10 years we have been promoting our Civil Dialogue initiative and encounters of horizontal collaboration where participating stakeholders are engaged as equals and are both motivated and required to give and receive, adding value to all parties in the relationship.

We connect groups at extreme opposites and bring them together to learn about and appreciate each other through open conversations, guided interactions and joint activities.

Participants in our conversations include:

  • African, Asian, Middle East, Caribbean, Latino and Underprivileged USA youth.
  • International Visual Artists.
  • Social and Cultural Entrepreneurs.
  • Female Entrepreneurs and Innovators.
  • Male and Female Inmates.
  • US College students.
  • Dancers.
  • Remote mountain village community and innovators in the Caribbean.
  • Stanford University innovators.
  • Dominican - Haitian stakeholders.

We seek to promote harmony among them through direct interaction, joint projects and share activities where each party learns from each other and collaborates on common goals.

We deliberately avoid the initiatives to be perceived as aid programs and the conventional condescending relationship where one party benefits from the other and one give and another receives. We believe everyone has a lot to give, teach and share and we enable the collaborative platform and logistics to allow each party to add value and generate shared value.

Some of these activities include:

Dialogue through Dance

World renowned tap dancer, Ted Fellow and founder of Tap Legacy Foundation has joined us multiple times in the Dominican Republic, Haïti and France to bring stakeholders together through dance. These Dance performances and open exchanges have taken place among:

Dialogue through Art

  • Manual creation of visual pieces by homeless migrant kids in Europe with a visual artist from Spain. (2018)
  • Visualization and drawing workshop with underprivileged kids in Haïti in coordination with Danish supporters. (2012)
  • Puppet creation workshops for kids in the mountains of Haïti and orphans in the Dominican Republic with puppet makers from the Middle East. (2013)

Dialogue through Youth Exchange and Encounters

  • US Students visit and scientific field work to mountain village in the Caribbean. (2014)
    • Coordinated by Carlos Miranda Levy and Jon Katz.
  • Bi-lingual t-shirts for sale with messages in Spanish, Haitian Creole, English and Japanese. (2013)
    • Messages and translations provided by Eden Quayle, Yuka Tanaka, John Engle, Alex Myrill, Merline Engle and Mariam Yazdani.
    • Designs by Nahomi Sánchez.
  • Speaking on social impact through social media to Venezuelan youth ambassadors in Washington, DC. (2013)
    • Videoconference by Carlos Miranda Levy.
  • Haitian and Dominican youth encounters with Singaporean Social Entrepreneur and photographer Robin Low. (2013)
  • National University of Singapore (NUS) Students visit and field disaster recovery work in Japan (2012)
    • Coordinated by Robin Low.
  • Connecting students in Washington, DC with rural students in the Dominican Republic. (2012)
    • Flying kites and Skype conversations on 2012.
      • Cathy Healy, from Chavez Prep Schools coordinated in Washington, Angie Díaz from Plan International coordinated in Dominican Republic.
      • Celestino González assisted in video, photography and engagement activities.
  • Video-conference on gender issues with Haitian and Dominican youth (2012)
  • Connecting students in Japan with students in Haiti: Haitian and Japanese youth recorded and sent a video and pictures to each other. (2011)
    • Eden Quayle coordinated in Japan, Carlos Miranda Levy, Danel Georges and Emeline Dessert in Haïti.

Civil Dialogue Activities Photobook some of our activities throughout the years