The Dialogue Society is proud to announce the launch of its series of ten Community Dialogue Manuals. The manuals aim to inspire and enable individuals, groups and organisations to engage in meaningful dialogue through a range of projects. They provide tangible ideas, know-how and resources to both motivate and support people and groups to reach out to one another and strengthen social cohesion. The project, supported by the Department of Communities and Local Government, allows the Dialogue Society to disseminate its experience, building capacity for grassroots dialogue and citizenship initiatives.

The series consists of the following titles: Building Partnerships, Noah’s Pudding, Celebrating Festivals, Community Fairs, Community Engagement Dinners, Community Centres Branching Out, Speed Dialogue, Open Mosque Day, Fast-Breaking Dinners, and Media Engagement.

The Community Dialogue Manuals achieve the following:

Inspiring and instilling enthusiasm for dialogue: By suggesting over sixty five ideas and projects for individuals and groups, including thirty five detailed dialogue projects, the manuals inspire and instil interest in and enthusiasm for community dialogue.

Providing a range of tangible ideas: By detailing diverse projects over a total of six hundred and fifty pages, the manuals suggest tangible, achievable projects to suit a range of people and groups.

Disseminating know-how: By guiding readers through every step of the process of planning and organisation through detailed advice, checklists, hints and tips the manuals disseminate know-how in a user-friendly format.

Supporting users through materials: By complementing know-how with over one hundred sample letters, emails, forms and other resources, the manuals support people in the projects they undertake.

Highlighting useful resources: By including over two hundred references to helpful external websites, relevant organisations and publications, the manuals expose users to other resources.

Mrs Ilknur Kahraman, Co-Director of the Dialogue Society said, “We are very excited to be launching the Community Dialogue Manuals. In Britain and elsewhere civil society and communities are being asked to increase their contribution to building a stronger and more cohesive society, but there is a lack of clarity as to what, in concrete terms, they should be doing, and how this is to be achieved. The manuals should contribute to filling this gap. Rather than just encouraging social responsibility and engagement in dialogue, they provide the know-how and resources to make tangible projects achievable. Further, as recent events in Norway have demonstrated, there appears to be a worrying rise of suspicion and hatred of different ethnic, cultural or religious groups in Europe. At such a time, it is all the more important to redouble our efforts to break down barriers and utilise every opportunity to bring about greater understanding of one another. We believe that the Community Dialogue Manuals project is a step in that direction.”

The manuals can be downloaded for free from www.dialoguesociety.org/publications. Hard copies will be distributed next month. To receive free copies email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Notes to Editors

The Dialogue Society (www.dialoguesociety.org) is a registered charity, established in London in 1999, with the aim of advancing social cohesion by connecting communities through dialogue. It does this by bringing people together through discussion forums, courses, capacity building publications and outreach. It operates nation-wide with regional branches across the UK.

To view the Community Dialogue Manuals please click here