Introducing Dr. Pat Patfoort

-   Belgian Flemish anthropologist (born 1949)
-   lecturer, trainer and mediator dealing with conflict transformation and nonviolent conflict management
-   author of several books and articles, translated into different languages
-   co-founder and director of "De Vuurbloem" ("The Fireflower"), Center for Nonviolent Conflict Management, in Brugge, Belgium
-   lecturer in universities in Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, USA, Russia, and elsewhere
-   teacher and trainer with a large variety of groups :
     o   in education (with children, adolescents, parents, teachers, educators)
     o   with adults in conflict (in the family setting, in the work-place, and in prisons)
-   facilitator of dialogue and reconciliation projects with ethnic groups in conflict (including in the Caucasus, in Kosovo, in Rwanda, in East-Congo, in Senegal)
-   has worked in collaboration with Quakers, Catholic organizations (e.g. Pax Christi or Caritas), the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe), the European Council, the Belgian Ministery of Foreign Affairs and the VN
-   mother of two sons
-   resided in Africa for 8 years.


Model and diagrams :

Patfoort uses original models and diagrams that have grown out of her work of more than 40 years, starting with the experience of raising her own children who are adults now. Features of these models include the following :
-   They are quite concrete and easy to use with a variety of groups, including with children.
-   They clarify in a simple and recognizable way the nature, causes and mechanisms of violence, even as they show that there is an alternative that can be readily understood and put into practice.
-   They demonstrate that one can defend oneself without resort to the ineffective eye-for-an-eye approach.
-   By exposing the links between what happens on both personal and societal levels, they help individuals feel less powerless about events in the larger world and more motivated to make constructive changes in their own attitudes and actions.
-   They underscore the importance of how children are raised in relation to all else that happens in the world and so revalue all those people who are active in childraising. This can help parents, teachers and educators work cooperatively to make positive changes in the education of children, thereby helping diminish ‘the violence in the world’.
-   They provide easy-to-use keys for daily life.
-   They show that the practice of nonviolence is not limited to a particular expression of faith or commitment but is open to all.