Auroville Project Coordination Group
GRANT PROPOSAL FORMAT

1. Project title: Shifting Gears - Empowering group decision making in Auroville through Nonviolent Communication

2. Project Summary: Give a short, clear presentation of your project in 3-4 lines. Write your summary last, after you have finished the major parts of your application.

We are proposing to organize a 3-week intensive training in Auroville in December 08 - January 09. We are inviting several international certified Nonviolent Communication trainers and supporters to come and share their expertise in group decision making, conflict resolution, alternative governance, and sociocracy. These workshops will cater to the needs of Aurovilians (individuals and working groups) to help with decision making and moving forward in building the city.

We have created a very complete, thorough website for this event, and we will be updating it regularly. Please visit: http://wiki.bluelightav.org/display/NVC08/NVC+Camp+Home

3. Project duration: approx. 3 weeks (Dec 24 - Jan 14)

4. Total cost of the project: € 10,000 (Grand Total, including AV overhead)

5. Funding amount requested (if different from total cost): € 6,000

6. Project holder's full name(s): L'aura Joy, Jason Stewart

7. Address, phone and e-mail:
laurajoy@auroville.org.in, jason@auroville.org.in
262-2539, 9442788016
Centre Field
Auroville, 605101
TN, India

8. Group, School, Service or Unit name associated with or supporting this project:
1. College Guest House (CGH)
2. Joy Living and Learning Centre (Joy LLC)

9. Group, School, Service or Unit address, phone and e-mail:
Same as above, #7

10. Background: Explain WHO your group, team, school or overall programme is; say when, how
and why it was started, how many people are part of it, and what other activities besides the project
being proposed are taking place in it.

The Joy Living and Learning Centre (Joy LLC) was registered as a Project under Auroville's Unity Fund on July 30/08, with Jason and L'aura as Project Holders. Over the next few years, we will host a broad range of educational/experiential activities, inviting world-class trainers and leaders who can share their knowledge and expertise with Auroville, in order to help Auroville move forward in its development. We will house these trainers in College Guest House (managed by L'aura and Jason), and our residence and the land we steward will be used as community space (kitchen, dining, office, meeting spaces, meditation areas, garden).

The Joy LLC has already hosted a 4-day workshop in Nonviolent Communication and Aikido with trainers Saleem Ebhrahim and Aniruddha, and a 2-day French Introduction to Nonviolent Communication by trainer Charlotte Duprez-Mourman. Later in August, we'll be hosting another workshop in Internal Family Systems with Nanna Michael. In the coming months, we'll continue to put on further workshops with several international trainers in preparation for our December event.

11. Date of application: Aug 11/08

12. Problem statement (WHY do you want to do this project?) Explain briefly the need or problem you want to deal with.

It is our understanding that although Auroville wants very much to move forward in its governance, we are still "stuck" as a community. Auroville's working groups and teams have had difficulties with communication, being heard and hearing others, and coming up with effective group decision making. It is our understanding that the working groups spend a lot of their time trying to find solutions to problems, and yet we continue to have problems! We hear many Aurovilians saying that it's a critical time, and that we need to find a way to move forward.

We have also experienced that Aurovilians are still unclear about how we plan to achieve Human Unity. We have experienced that the community doesn't have agreed-upon practices or agreements that will help us manifest Human Unity.

For many years in Auroville, we have experienced that the Tamil population hasn't taken/been given the opportunity to be in positions of leadership. Recently, Tamil Aurovilians have come together, in order to have a voice in how Auroville develops. Although this is a first step, we still don't experience full integration in the community between Western and Tamil Aurovilians. Also, only one or two Tamil Aurovilians have attended previous Nonviolent Communication workshops, as compared to hundreds of Western and North Indian Aurovilians.

We have worked intensively over the last year learning, teaching and living Nonviolent Communication with Aurovilians and international trainers. We have experienced that Nonviolent Communication offers tools and practices for personal and interpersonal development. It shifts the focus away from finding solutions to problems, and instead focuses on understanding and connection, which allows win-win strategies to emerge naturally.

Over the last year, we have also heard several Aurovilians share their opinions and misconceptions about what they understand Nonviolent Communication to be. We would really like to offer the community a broader picture of what Nonviolent Communication can provide for Auroville. We want to share the experience of trainers who have used Nonviolent Communication to transform schools, corporations and NGO's into successful decision making bodies.

13. Aim and Objectives (WHAT do you want to achieve?): Describe briefly the aim and objectives
to meet the need or address the problem.

• offer Aurovilians a practice for living and experiencing Human Unity through Nonviolent Communication
• make Nonviolent Communication accessible to Tamil-speaking Aurovilians
• offer working groups a practice for working together and moving forward in Auroville's development
• offer Aurovilians and working groups an opportunity to continue exploring important topics, such as governance, sociocracy, group decision making, team building, conflict resolution, mediation, etc.
• give Aurovilians an opportunity to interact with quality, world-class trainers, and to attend their workshops for free (instead of traveling abroad and paying a lot of money for it)
• identify specific working groups who want to create long-term projects or connections with the trainers (who are offering continued support)

14. Description of Activities (WHAT will you do to achieve your aim and objectives?) Describe the activities you will carry out. Supply all practical and concrete data relevant to these activities, including graphs, charts or maps whenever appropriate. If applicable, provide a timeline or implementation schedule of your activities.

We're organizing a 3-week schedule, with different trainers offering specific trainings at chosen dates. We're creating a space for interactions between particular working groups who might be interested in what trainers are offering, and Aurovilians and working groups can make requests for private trainings. For example, the Auroville Mediation Group could decide to spend dedicated time with a trainer in this field. Some trainers are committed to having a long-term relationship with Auroville, and they are offering to continue the development of using Nonviolent Communication in Auroville's decision making on an on-going basis.

To encourage more Tamil Aurovilians to participate, we are inviting a Tamil trainer from Sri Lanka to offer specific Tamil-language workshops (with translation in English).

The event will take place at College Guest House, where trainers can stay for free, in return for their work in Auroville. We will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the trainers, and morning and afternoon tea for the workshop participants. All the workshops will happen on our campus to simplify transportation and logistics. As we are centrally located, it will be easily accessible to Aurovilians.

Our existing facilities (meeting rooms) are only big enough to hold 2 groups of 15 people indoors, and one group of 30 outdoors. We will put up temporary structures (tents) that will serve as meeting halls to enable larger groups (such as 50) to meet indoors. We will also build composting toilets, as we now only have 5 outdoor toilets.

This is an example of what our daily schedule could look like:

This schedule shows the fullest of planned activities, and we are designing it to be flexible. Some trainers will offer single-session activities, while other trainers will offer activities that span over a few days. We would like participants to take part in as much as possible, and we hope that by offering a mix of activities, Aurovilians with families and/or other responsibilities will be more able to attend. We will post the weekly schedule on our website, as trainers commit to specific days.

We want to ensure that Aurovilians and working groups can take full advantage of the trainers while they are here. It is our commitment to work with individual Aurovilians who are members of different working groups over the next few months, and to explore with them how Nonviolent Communication can be used in their groups. We already have several trainings scheduled between now and December, and they are being advertised in the community.

Based on attendance at previous workshops, there will be many guests in Auroville who will be interested in taking part in these activities as well. We need to expand our existing facilities (drinking water, food, temporary toilets and meeting spaces), in order to handle large numbers of participants.

Although we are inviting guests to join our event, we don't want to rely on their financial contribution as the main source of funding, as is often done in Auroville. We really want to shift the focus to the needs of Aurovilians first instead of the needs of guests.

15. Project Team (WHO will carry out the project?) Give the name(s) of person(s) who will be
directly involved in carrying out the project and, if applicable, provide information on personal
expertise relevant to the project.

We (Jason and L'aura) are the project holders. Auroville's Nonviolent Communication community has grown over the last year to include approximately 20 Aurovilians who are deeply committed to furthering the awareness of Nonviolent Communication in Auroville. They are aware of this event and are presently considering how they can help with the coordination.

We both discovered Nonviolent Communication one year ago, and it quickly became very clear to us that this was our life's path. In August 07, we attended a 5-day Nonviolent Communication workshop: Introduction to Nonviolent Communication; Relationships; Parents/Teachers/Teens in Auroville with trainer Aniruddha. In December 07, we attended a 10-day Advanced Nonviolent Communication workshop (covering several topics) in Bhaja (Pune) with trainers Shantigarbha, Christa Gronow, and Dilip and Beth Soni. Through September 07 to April 08, we attended and supported teaching monthly introduction and deepening workshops (covering several topics) in Auroville with trainer-candidate Tewa. We were also part of a Nonviolent Communication trainers' training course with Tewa and a weekly practice group with Tewa. During this time, we also led our own weekly practice group and showed weekly movies. In June 08, we attended a 9-day Intensive Nonviolent Communication workshop in USA with Marshall Rosenberg, the founder of Nonviolent Communication, and trainers John Kinyon and Rodger Sorrow. In August 08, we attended a 4-day Nonviolent Communication and Aikido workshop in Auroville with trainers Saleem Ebrahim and Aniruddha.

Our intention is to attend a few more trainings in the next weeks and months:
Nonviolent Communication and Internal Family Systems with Nanna Michael in August in Auroville
Nonviolent Communication and Sociocracy with Saleem Ebrahim, Charlotte Duprez-Mourman and Gilles Charest in November in Bhaja (Pune)
Nonviolent Communication in NGO's, Schools and Corporations with Saleem Ebrahim and Charlotte Duprez-Mourman in November in Auroville

We intend to become certified Nonviolent Communication trainers within the next few years.

For detailed info on the trainers who plan to come to our event, please visit our website.

16. Beneficiaries (if applicable) Who will be the beneficiaries? Explain how they will benefit from this project. If applicable, include number of beneficiaries.

• Aurovilians will have the opportunity to experience first-hand what Nonviolent Communication offers in terms of a personal practice for living in Human Unity
• working groups or working group members will have the opportunity to learn and share ideas around governance, etc
• for example: the Auroville Mediation Group will have the opportunity to share and learn additional skills
• for example: the Auroville Council will have the opportunity to share ideas on how to move forward with group decision making in Auroville (they have recently sent out a plea for help, ideas and positive energy)
• for example: Tamil Aurovilians will have the same opportunity to benefit from the workshops as do Western and North Indian Aurovilians

17. Evaluation (if applicable) Describe how you will evaluate the process and the results of your project. Say when this evaluation will be done.

We will have evaluation forms available for participants to give feedback about each trainer/workshop. These will be compiled, and the results will be tallied and posted on the website. Our process will be totally transparent.

Also, every evening, we will have what we call "Celebration/Mourning" gatherings. Trainers and participants will come together and share what they appreciate about the day and what they regret about the day. This sharing can be a reflection on personal actions they took/didn't take, or more general observations about what the trainings offered/didn't offer, etc. In our experience, these sessions are often the most powerful part of the trainings, as they provide a powerful opportunity for self-reflection and community building.

18. Other Sources of Funding (if applicable) Mention the name and amount and, if applicable, the period for which these other sources or donors will contribute to your project.

Many of our invited trainers are donating their time and energy for this event. There are a few, however, who are unable to attend with some financial support (plane tickets and/or a minimal salary). We realize these expenses are above and beyond the basic budget for running the event, so we have not included them in our budget. We are locating private sponsors for these cases.

For example, Rachid Toufik will be sponsoring Tamil-speaking Jeyanthy Siva, a Nonviolent Communication supporter from Sri Lanka. He will pay for her airfare, other travel-related expenses, and possibly a "salary." We don't have the exact figures for this yet. (In addition, he has donated a full set of all published and recorded Nonviolent Communication materials to the Joy LLC library. He also just sponsored 3 international Nonviolent Communication trainers to give workshops in Auroville in August 08.)

Phil Melville has been a long-term funder of College Guest House. He's passionate about setting up educational programs in Auroville, but we still don't have clarity regarding funding for this event. (In addition, he contributed $1000 towards our trainings in the USA in June 08.)

We imagine that several guests will be taking part in these workshops as well. They will probably pay what guests normally pay in Auroville for workshops, around Rs.1200 for a 2-day course. Based on how many guests participated in Nonviolent Communication workshops in the last year, we estimate that around 50 guests will participate. This could add up to Rs.60,000 = € 1,000.

We're looking for other sources of funding, from personal contacts and friends. We don't yet have clarity on whether this will bring in any money or not.

19. Budget Estimate:. Provide a budget that is well thought out, complete and detailed. Make a list of everything that will be needed for your project and assign a cost to each item to arrive at your budget. These items should be grouped under specific heading. The budget table included here is a template and may be expanded with additional rows to show all the headings, details and requirements necessary for your project budget. Read more about preparing a Budget Estimate on the next page.