There is a need for spaces of dialogue and established formats of communication to build bridges, to allow exchange on separated discourses, as well as constructive coping mechanisms to address psychosocial factors in Lebanon. Further, there is also a need to have confidence and skills to address conflict nonviolently, and confidence in the potential to influence the status quo and to spark change on an individual and on the collective level.
Our approach
The project aims to address the above mentioned needs through equipping the Playback Theatre community in Lebanon with skills to work on conflict, and offering Playback Theatre as a tool for dialogue, a safe space for exchanging personal narratives, and psycho-social support in conflicted communities.
What we do
The community of Playback Theater-practitioners in Lebanon is well established, and often works with conflicted communities and/or on contagious issues. However, during the evaluation of a workshop on Conflict Transformation through Playback, participants from the 3 Playback troops articulated a lack of confidence in navigating conflict dynamics and a wish for further collaboration and relationship building. This experience has set the base for Obour, which is divided into three main phases:
- Phase 1: addresses the potential for improved impact of the Playback Theatre community in Lebanon, and how they can be supported to enhance their conflict sensitivity and knowledge of how to work on conflict.
- Phase 2: aims to target conflicted/marginalized communities. Through the intervention, where Playback Theatre approaches are implemented with the communities, they are offered a space for dialogue, psychological support and an opportunity to analyze the violent structures they are embedded in.
- Phase 3: addresses the opportunities for activism and civic engagement within these communities and aims to provide them with the tools and support they need to become active and organize for change.
Our theories of change
If we invest in and collaborate with the playback community, then they will become the better peacebuilders because they have two skill-sets: their community-art and conflict-transformation skills.