Two days with Bart Brandsma - Deepening our know-how on understanding polarisation and working with it effectively
Polarisation workshops #1
2025
In autumn 2024 we organised a series of workshops in Banská Bystrica focused on working with polarisation. We are continuing these activities! This time we took a closer look at our own capacity to work with polarisation within the OGP team. 🎯
Over two intensive days, our OGP team (the PIOS Department of the Banská Bystrica City Office – Sonja Karikova, Jessica Môciková; Dialogue Centre n.o. – Michaela Kováčik Huľuková, Tomáš Hudák, Michaela Sládkayová, Antónia Jurečková) had the great opportunity, thanks to the Agents of Coexistence project (part of the URBACT programme and URBACT in Slovakia), to take part in an exceptional “training of trainers”. It was led by Bart Brandsma – a Dutch polarisation expert, philosopher and author of “Polarisation: understanding the dynamics of us versus them” (2016) 📖. Bart has worked on strategic approaches to polarisation for more than 20 years across Europe as well as in (post-)conflict countries. His methodology is used by a wide range of professionals – from mayors and ministers to teachers, journalists and police officers – anyone who needs to find their way in tense social situations and wants to ease unhealthy polarisation.
During the training Bart guided us through his approach, which is clear, practical and surprisingly deep.
We deepened our: 🧠
- understanding of the dynamics at work in polarisation
- ability to tell conflict from polarisation and to recognise the different roles in polarised situations
- knowledge of depolarisation strategies and of tools for mapping polarisation and identifying where to intervene effectively.
The training also gave us the chance to work with real polarisation situations from our own contexts and to design concrete depolarisation strategies for them.
Working on polarisation is vitally important for our work on developing open governance. Polarisation is an ever-strengthening process of social tension in which the dynamic of splitting into “us” and “them” camps deepens. Nuance disappears, and the space for dialogue, cooperation and trust shrinks – and without these, open governance in our city has nothing to build on. Ultimately, deepening polarisation undermines trust in institutions and democratic principles and takes us further from solving real problems.
We thank Bart Brandsma for his inspiring guidance, openness and ability to turn a complex topic into a practical framework. 🙏 His approach shows us that polarisation can be worked with – systematically, sensitively and with hope for change. We leave with new tools, but also with a deeper understanding of the responsibility we carry as professionals, facilitators and active citizens.
Besides completing this extremely valuable training, we are preparing further interesting activities and workshops with Bart, which we will be happy to tell you about step by step 😊.
Gallery
