Building Trust, Creating Connection, Healing Hearts

Foundation for Women owns and occupies a compound in Monrovia, Liberia, in the heart of Red Light, a vibrant, urban center buzzing with possibility. The compound has been renovated to house Center for Dialogue Africa’s conference rooms, meeting areas, resource center and outdoor communal spaces. Also home to the FFW microfinance operations, the Monrovia compound will be a magnet for community organizations and businesses, for co-working, conferences and as a multi-media training facility.
Our Vision is that Center for Dialogue Africa be a place where people come, physically and remotely, to learn and practice Safe Conversations Dialogue, where programs for community building are integrated with trauma healing, where peace builders meet and Africans from all nations come together to learn and collaborate. We believe that peace is a common and attainable goal, and Dialogue is the essential and connective tissue.
Download the Center for Dialogue Overview (pdf).
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Center for Dialogue: Key Initiatives
Center for Dialogue Africa (CDA) will facilitate Dialogue programs in support of diverse, progressive initiatives taking place in Liberia. The pillars of our work are:
Center for Dialogue Africa (CDA) will facilitate Dialogue programs in support of diverse, progressive initiatives taking place in Liberia. The pillars of our work are:
Peacekeeping in Support of National Unity
We believe that peace is a practice that requires consistent tending and building local ownership and accountability. We believe that lasting reconciliation happens in community. As practitioners and facilitators of a research-based Dialogue process,
Center for Dialogue Africa is strategically positioned to undergird the implementation of the WECC and Liberia’s Decentralization and National Peacebuilding Agenda.
Our multi-faceted, peacebuilding methodology has been used with the women’s Peace Huts, CSOs and local community organizations to build the inspiration and capacity for sustained peace. We stand ready to offer Dialogue training and facilitation in support of the nation’s healing process.
We believe that peace is a practice that requires consistent tending and building local ownership and accountability. We believe that lasting reconciliation happens in community. As practitioners and facilitators of a research-based Dialogue process,
Center for Dialogue Africa is strategically positioned to undergird the implementation of the WECC and Liberia’s Decentralization and National Peacebuilding Agenda.
Our multi-faceted, peacebuilding methodology has been used with the women’s Peace Huts, CSOs and local community organizations to build the inspiration and capacity for sustained peace. We stand ready to offer Dialogue training and facilitation in support of the nation’s healing process.
Trauma Recovery Programs
Center for Dialogue Africa has partnered with Bellwether International to implement a trauma support program for education and healing at community and national levels. With an evidence and research-based implementation plan (based on Bellwether’s global work in genocide disruption and trauma healing), CDA will cultivate its national network of community hubs, schools, congregations, national institutions and businesses to train local and national leaders to be agents of healing and recovery. Educational programs teach individuals, families and groups about emotional reactivity, physical and mental health concerns and help generate new responses based on dialogue and collaboration.
Sustained and productive trauma healing must be a holistic and coordinated effort: top down and bottom up. CDA will mentor local leaders and national leaders to support their communities and institutions in healing while reinforcing the national priority of peace and progress with our government and NGO partners. Addressing persistent generational trauma is at the core of our strategy for a thriving Liberia, bottom up and top down.
Center for Dialogue Africa has partnered with Bellwether International to implement a trauma support program for education and healing at community and national levels. With an evidence and research-based implementation plan (based on Bellwether’s global work in genocide disruption and trauma healing), CDA will cultivate its national network of community hubs, schools, congregations, national institutions and businesses to train local and national leaders to be agents of healing and recovery. Educational programs teach individuals, families and groups about emotional reactivity, physical and mental health concerns and help generate new responses based on dialogue and collaboration.
Sustained and productive trauma healing must be a holistic and coordinated effort: top down and bottom up. CDA will mentor local leaders and national leaders to support their communities and institutions in healing while reinforcing the national priority of peace and progress with our government and NGO partners. Addressing persistent generational trauma is at the core of our strategy for a thriving Liberia, bottom up and top down.
Financial Literacy and Community Building
Each Foundation for Women loan client is trained and mentored in financial accountability and entrepreneurship. Workshops take place for clients and the wider community to establish the value and tools of community collaboration and growth. Safe Conversations Dialogue is integrated with the tools for building and sustaining healthy communities, business and advocacy skills to promote respect in the marketplace.
Each Foundation for Women loan client is trained and mentored in financial accountability and entrepreneurship. Workshops take place for clients and the wider community to establish the value and tools of community collaboration and growth. Safe Conversations Dialogue is integrated with the tools for building and sustaining healthy communities, business and advocacy skills to promote respect in the marketplace.
Safe Conversations Dialogue Training Institute
Center for Dialogue Africa has 10 trained Safe Conversations Facilitators so far who lead workshops with groups of all sizes. The team collects data about how Dialogue is creating change in all sectors of Liberian life (education, healthcare, religious communities and more). They will act as advisors and mentors as the movement evolves, and more
Facilitators will be trained as the need for Dialogue grows.CDA also hosts meetings and conferences in which the CDA Facilitators provide a framework for integrating Safe Conversations with trauma education to promote safe and open dialogue. CDA will be a zone of Zero Negativity, and the Safe Conversations tenets will be requirements for use of the facility.
Center for Dialogue Africa has 10 trained Safe Conversations Facilitators so far who lead workshops with groups of all sizes. The team collects data about how Dialogue is creating change in all sectors of Liberian life (education, healthcare, religious communities and more). They will act as advisors and mentors as the movement evolves, and more
Facilitators will be trained as the need for Dialogue grows.CDA also hosts meetings and conferences in which the CDA Facilitators provide a framework for integrating Safe Conversations with trauma education to promote safe and open dialogue. CDA will be a zone of Zero Negativity, and the Safe Conversations tenets will be requirements for use of the facility.
Using Technology for Community Healing
Center for Dialogue Africa recognizes the opportunity to address long-standing division that stems from civil war and its aftermath. We believe that community healing takes place only in relationship – which requires skills for relational connection. In 2025, CDA will launch Brave Dialogue, an innovative, AI-driven mobile app designed to lead individuals in the use of dialogue in everyday interactions. The app provides safe space to work through experiences of loneliness and frustration, with guided outcomes encouraging connection and healing.
Center for Dialogue Africa recognizes the opportunity to address long-standing division that stems from civil war and its aftermath. We believe that community healing takes place only in relationship – which requires skills for relational connection. In 2025, CDA will launch Brave Dialogue, an innovative, AI-driven mobile app designed to lead individuals in the use of dialogue in everyday interactions. The app provides safe space to work through experiences of loneliness and frustration, with guided outcomes encouraging connection and healing.
Student-Led Dialogue Facilitation
As members of the FFW loan program, more than 50 low fee, independent schools have offered Safe Conversations “relationship classes” to grades 7 through 12. Center for Dialogue Africa creates hubs in each school to engage these Student Ambassadors to
take Dialogue into their communities, with the challenge to touch at least 10 others with the new skills thus creating a broader wave of increased familiarity and Dialogue practice.
Safe Conversations Student Ambassadors will lead Dialogue sessions at CDA working through real-time obstacles and creating coalitions for change. Center for Dialogue Africa is positioned as a student-led resource for peace, and will support youth with internships, national and international summits and professional skill development.
International Dialogue Network
Center for Dialogue Africa is a resource to support peace and dialogue initiatives across the continent with (current) faculty members in Kenya, Benin, Sierra Leone and South Africa.
Center for Dialogue Africa is home to best practices and tools to assist peace and community building efforts, including mutilingual and format training materials and customized platforms for schools, congregations and government organizations.
As members of the FFW loan program, more than 50 low fee, independent schools have offered Safe Conversations “relationship classes” to grades 7 through 12. Center for Dialogue Africa creates hubs in each school to engage these Student Ambassadors to
take Dialogue into their communities, with the challenge to touch at least 10 others with the new skills thus creating a broader wave of increased familiarity and Dialogue practice.
Safe Conversations Student Ambassadors will lead Dialogue sessions at CDA working through real-time obstacles and creating coalitions for change. Center for Dialogue Africa is positioned as a student-led resource for peace, and will support youth with internships, national and international summits and professional skill development.
International Dialogue Network
Center for Dialogue Africa is a resource to support peace and dialogue initiatives across the continent with (current) faculty members in Kenya, Benin, Sierra Leone and South Africa.
Center for Dialogue Africa is home to best practices and tools to assist peace and community building efforts, including mutilingual and format training materials and customized platforms for schools, congregations and government organizations.