The “Change Agents” program is organized in 3 components that follow the personal evolution of the participants during the program: after going through the interpersonal process and getting a better understanding of their own role in the conflict, the 80 participants will then acquire skills to create change in their professional fields and will finally be given the opportunity to implement concrete and collaborative projects of their own.
Component I introduces participants to the program, its intergroup process and methodology in uni-national and binational groups. It furthers the participants’ knowledge of social and political aspects of binational issues, and trains participants to take responsibility for their role in the conflict and engage in actions that promote reconciliation and exert influence on the nations’ leadership.
During Component II, participants will acquire skills to create an impact on decision makers and change in their professional and community environment by presenting cases and analyzing them. They will get a better understanding of the connection between professional identity and national identity. They will gain knowledge about their specific field and how it is related to the conflict and discuss dilemmas through consultation from academics and practitioners. The group from Israel will also devote time to continue the dialogue between Jews and Palestinians. The same will happen in the meetings between all Palestinians. Facilitators and experts will help participants identify opportunities to create change and ways to design their own impact projects and participants will work on their projects with guidance from experts in the field.
Finally, Component III will include finalizing planning for all participant impact projects; participants will acquire skills needed for implementing the projects. It is during this last component that the projects will actually be implemented and presented to other participants during the last binational meeting.