2006 Global Village Square

June 16-18, 2006

If we live in a global village... where is the village square?
As leaders, where can we bring our stories and questions, our hopes and fears, and our impossible challenges?

Where will the elders, the young people, and the middle generations gather to work on the inspirations and ideas they share and the projects they can create?

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In both ancient and more recent cultures, the village square serves as a marketplace for the exchange of goods and ideas. It is also a social space for connection, dialogue, and friendship.

We invite you to join us as we create a global village square in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We will come together as a multi-generational gathering of peers who are being called to respond to some of the pressing challenges of our time. Our current work may be in business, community development, conflict resolution, activism, or policy-making. We may be in the midst of an intensely demanding situation rife with conflict, fear, and/or resistance. Or we may be in more of a supporting role, holding situations and people so that the needed transformation can take place. We may also be "on the rim," as concerned witnesses looking for productive ways to express our caring and make our contribution.

We will each bring our current leadership challenge in the form of a core question. Several projects, from different parts of the world and different sectors, will be brought to the center of the “square” and presented by the people who are actively working with them. We will then engage these issues according to our passion and the connection we see with our own leadership questions.

To read more about how the Global Village Square has evolved, click here.

Please join us as we

• create a space of collective presence, inquiry, and creative problem-solving in order to find new solutions to real issues
• develop and practice a new model for working with leadership challenges that includes peer "wisdom councils," reflection, open space principles and practices, and action planning
• initiate and support a global, intergenerational community of practice for change agents who dare to take action at the emergent edge of an unknown future

From participants in the 2005 Global Village Square:

“This was a life-changing experience for me. It was at the right time with the right people. Now I feel a huge responsibility to bring something significant into the world and I know I'll do it, especially now that I have such a strong network of great people who have similar aspirations.” — Yuliya Filippovska, Ukraine

“The intergenerational nature of the Global Village Square created a unique environment, the likes of which I have never before experienced. I believe that this format could be used in many different arenas for organizational development and perhaps conflict resolution. The hosts made a truly AMAZING team. Their facilitation skills were beyond belief.” — Aerin Dunford, Vermont, USA

“The Global Village Square is a force field that helps extract and cohere wisdom about life, living and making a difference, and the evolution of understanding about one’s own journey and place in the world. Thank you for making this possible for myself and for many others.” —Samantha Tan, USA and Singapore