LEOS: Learning Each Others’ Stories
The problem we solve
Entrenched positions. Deep-rooted prejudice. Tensions between groups and open conflict. People see each other as a threat; and what is good for ‘them’ must be bad for ‘us’. Once mind-sets and gut feelings are locked into opposition, it can be very difficult to shift. And it doesn’t stop with individuals; they join forces to hate together. They whip it up on the internet. One side provokes the other, and soon hate propagates through a community. And by now, simple ‘dialogue’ is not the solution when it is a diatribe of mutual provocation.
Lokahi’s unique method brings together groups locked in conflict, and builds trust in only one day.
LEOS events help different groups to share a mutual space and learn the perspective of the other, through a uniquely relevant story. We take two or more groups with entrenched positions: whether faith groups, police, local authorities and community organisations. Over recent years we have seen it work with Muslim youth groups and police, with Somali women and local authority representatives and the Somali community and police.
Learning Each Other’s Stories, or LEOS, is the method that we developed from the extraordinary experience of Operation Nicole. In 50 places around the UK, we drew over 2,600 police offiers and Muslim citizens into intense exchanges to understand each other’s dilemmas.
A terrorist attack prevented
Why did nearly every police force in Britain want to have a Nicole? Because one of the first events prevented a major act of violence.
Following a Nicole event in March 2008 in Bristol, someone approached the police he had bonded with on the weekend. He was worried about a young man he knew: what he was saying, chemical burns on his hands…
The police raided his flat and found the explosives in the fridge, the detonator in the kitchen drawer and the suicide vest hanging in his wardrobe.
Trust saves lives.
How it works
How do you turn around hostile attitudes, mistrust, and ignorance? Lokahi methods target these intractable problems in an unthreatening way. The Lokahi approach creates the safe and respectful atmosphere where people can say openly what they really think.
Then the participants play out situations in someone else’s shoes, acting out their perspective, taking their decisions, and having to negotiate all this in a very mixed group.
“We got to understand their point of view…and it really helped us get closer because at the end of the day we all want the same things so we might as well work together to make things better.”
Lokahi’s LEOS method triggers the exchange of experience that creates understanding. Seeing what others undergo – and being understood yourself – makes it possible to change your attitudes, your behaviour, and see others changing with you. Alienation is rapidly broken down with the recognition that they’re just like us, and that it’s not easy to be ‘them’.
By the end, participants aren’t just swapping business cards – they’re swapping hugs.
Visit the Lokahi website for more information.