From May 14th to 20th, 2025, the Educational Eco-Community Hopeland in Koutsopodi, Greece, welcomed youth workers from Germany, Spain, Romania, Greece, and France for the second part of the “Talking about Conflicts” Training Course. Surrounded by nature, Hopeland was the perfect place to dive deep into group dynamics, identity, privilege, and conflict, all through an open and intersectional approach.

Throughout the week, we shared an incredible mix of workshops, reflections, and creative activities focused on conflict understanding and management. From the very start, we used trust-building games from Augusto Boal’s Games for Actors and Non-Actors, like name games, power dynamics exercises, and interactive group activities, to get used to the methodology, create a safe(r) space, and break the ice.

We explored different attitudes towards conflicts and reflected on our own way of dealing with disagreements and tensions. Participants learned the concept of Provention, meaning intervening in a conflict when it is at its very earliest stages, without waiting for it to develop into a crisis. This helped to build a bridge between the previous training course, focusing on communication skills, and the current one. Following, through role-play exercises such as the One Step Forward, the group reflected on inequalities and the layers of social structures, privileges, and oppression affecting all of us. Self-reflection exercises based on Julie Diamond’s Power Line and Power Print helped us see how power shows up in groups and in ourselves and how to recognize our power in order not to abuse of it. All of it was complemented and framed with the concepts and perspectives on conflict management offered by Process Work from Arnold Mindell, which provided many examples and training exercises used to work with inner and outer conflict.

One of the main methods proposed was Theatre of the Oppressed (Forum Theatre). It gave the group a chance to act out real-life situations and experiment with creative, inclusive solutions. Participants bravely engaged, creating 4 different plays based on personal life stories, and thought outside the box to find ways to break the oppressions and find a new ending for the scenes.

The Trainers, Alba Llucia and Thomas Desset, along with the project manager, Lara Riboni, guided the group with care, supporting the reflection on our own identity and privileges, and finding ways to practice empathy and solidarity. Daily reflection groups and a self-assessment questionnaire gave participants time to connect what we learned to our own lives and the work we do back home.

Hopeland itself was a huge part of the experience—the warm hospitality, the fresh, local vegetarian meals, and the cozy environment all made it feel like a home away from home. Huge thanks to our hosts at Hopeland for taking such good care of the group, and to all the participants for bringing so much energy and heart to the course. And of course, thanks to Maxime Jeune for the amazing comics and visuals that captured our learning so beautifully.

Many Thanks go to our international partners, EnVies EnJeux from France, Agoje from Romania, Nexes from Spain, and Hopeland itself from Greece for their precious support and contributions to the overall success of the project!

This whole journey was made possible with support from Erasmus+ and the European Union, helping us build tools to handle conflict with empathy and creativity and to spread that spirit of understanding in our communities.