542: Total peace, totally reimagined - Nonviolent Communication in Colombia

Hello and welcome to another episode of Colombia Calling – I'm Emily Hart and this week we have something a little bit different – the radical linguistic technique which is building peace - personal and political - all over the world, and the inspiring woman bringing it to Colombia.

This week, I have with me Camila Reyes Azcuénaga – the founder of Resuena, the organisation bringing the school of thought known as 'Nonviolent Communication' (NVC) to Colombia, a way of structuring our thoughts and communications to prevent and heal conflict, breaching the divides of culture, politics, and identity.

Developed in the late 20th Century by psychologist Marshall Rosenberg, NVC now has trainers and centres in more than 60 countries around the world. This simple technique aims to humanise the 'other', and forge communication, collaboration, and trust – from our daily life, to our work, and well beyond.

Camila studied law and political science and worked with indigenous communities and landmines here in Colombia, but felt the country needed a more fundamental change than she could achieve with that work. She left Colombia in search of something which would shift the paradigm of violence and conflict entirely.

After stumbling across Nonviolent Communication training during Occupy Wall Street, she felt she'd found what she was looking for – she spent years training and finally returned to Colombia, founding Resuena in 2011, running free workshops for years.

Resuena has now trained thousands, from institutions like the United Nations, the Truth Commission, and the Search Unit for Missing Persons, to grassroots social leaders in conflict-stricken areas of Colombia's South-west. The group helps people to navigate interpersonal relationships and conflicts, as well as maintain cohesion within movements and groups.

Through guided discussions, participants are trained to identify the patterns of behaviour that divide them and weaken their collective campaigns and processes, and then to replace them with a focus on acting from common ground. This year, Resuena also launched the 'Sowers of Nonviolent Communication' network – so that trainees can go into their own communities and pass on the training.

So today, Camila is going to give us a masterclass in these techniques and their underlying ideas, talking us through the four steps – observation, feeling, need, and request – along with some everyday examples. She'll then tell us about her amazing work in some of Colombia's most difficult contexts, and why this work is so necessary not just for the country – but for all of us.