The Livia Foundation was initiated by The Danish Centre for Conflict Resolution with an aim to enhance its efforts to directly address conflicts in societies through nonviolent interventions – in Denmark and beyond.

The name LIVIA refers to the olive twig, an ancient symbol of ‘approaching peacefully’. Also, at the end of the biblical flood, a dove returned to Noah’s Ark with the twig from an olive tree to signify ‘end of troubles’.

The Livia Foundation aims to create hope by promoting nonviolent conflict resolution in the world:

• making visible all the courageous, nonviolent efforts in evidence on all continents;
• supporting projects and individuals who demonstrate that severe social conflicts can be efficiently resolved through a wealth of ideas and dialogue;
• inspiring politicians, media, organizations and the general public to apply constructive, nonviolent approaches to conflict resolution
• creating conflict preparedness, locally and internationally Economy and organization

The LIVIA Foundation has raised app. DKK 700.000 or well over US$ 100.000. The bulk of these funds is spent on awards and other events, while DKK 250.000 is tied up as the foundation’s statutory capital in the Merkur Bank.

The capital comes from personal donations, from the author fees of the book ‘Conflict and Contact’, from foundations and from the Centre for Conflict Resolution.

The Livia Foundation is a civic, non-political, non-religious, non-profit initiative. We work to promote new ways to support creative, constructive nonviolent conflict resolution.

The foundation is headed by its Board assisted by a large number of active persons, who are particularly active around the prize awards. All are volunteers.

More about Livia and who has been awarded its Prize earlier here.

The worldwide examples of nonviolent action are admirable, but only rarely do they reach the front pages of the media.

This is where the Livia Foundation is working to make a difference:

We will make the life-affirming ideas and solutions known to a larger public, by drawing attention and giving a voice to people working within creative conflict resolution.

Else Hammerich, TFF Associate and former TFF Board member, has been in the forefront of both the Centre’s and the Livia Foundation’s establishment and TFF is proud to help promote knowledge about it and identifying the best possible candidates for the Livia Prize.

See at the end of this presentation how you may nominate someone for this prestigious Prize.

New activities 2015-2016

2015: A follow-up cooperative project with Mobaderoon, with CfK Ung (young members of Centre for Conflict Resolution).

March 2016: A four-day workshop for representatives of Mobaderoon, nonresident Syrian refugees, and Danes (March 2016) about active citizenship.
This was organized with ‘Globally Connected’, and CfK Ung with economic support of DKK 60,000.00 from KVINFO (The Danish Centre for Research and Information on Gender, Equality, and Diversity).

November 2016: Stories of Hope Conference at Global Platform in Copenhagen.
Participants: Former Prize awardees and nominees + active conflict workers from Denmark and abroad.
Prize-awarding ceremony and –feast on November 28th as a finale to the Stories of Hope Conference.

The Livia Foundation Board as of January 2016
Poul Erik Christoffersen (Chairman), Kirsten Ronnow Due (Deputy Chairman), Else Hammerich, Suzi Lyng Hansen, Jens Hyldahl, and Canan Atici.

The Livia Foundation urges you to help nominate a candidate

And here is how:

The Prize is awarded persons or groups who strive to handle conflicts in society with courage, creativity and nonviolence. We honour people, who will inspire and bring hope to others.

Do you know of someone who are approaching conflicts in society with creativity, wisdom, sensitivity, action and nonviolence? Then the Livia Foundation needs your advice.

The Livia Foundation is hosting an Award ceremony November 28th 2016. The ceremony takes place in Copenhagen in cooperation with the Danish Centre for Conflict Resolution. The Livia Award Recipient will be invited to Copenhagen to receive the award and participate in related events and press activities

We will nominate eight persons or groups and among these nominees two Award Recipients will be selected, one international and one from Denmark. Please find the criteria for the Livia Awards below.

If you know of any such people or groups, please let us know as soon as possible. Choose your candidate, fill the enclosed questionnaire and send it by e-mail to the sender of this mail, using the return address.

Deadline for suggesting nominees is: September 16th 2016.

By naming a nominee you contribute to demonstrating peaceful ways of dealing with conflicts in society. You help bring stories into the spotlight that bring inspiration and hope to others.

Criteria for the Livia Prize

The Prize is awarded according to criteria of constructive conflict resolution, on the basis of professional principles for handling conflicts:

• to create possibilities of genuine communication between adversaries and enemies
• to maintain contact with the adversary and insist on negotiation / dialogue
• to spot an escalation at an early stage and take steps to relaxation of destructive conflicts
• to create turnings-points in escalated conflicts and make contact and negotiation possible

• to fight for one’s truth without violence
• to support the parties after a conflict, that they can exist together, heal the wounds and come closer to a reconciliation
• to construct a workable preparedness for constructive conflicts handling in local communities

The Livia Awards are given to people, who live by these principles in societal conflicts and who – with surprising creativity and courage – when all hopes seem blocked, create ways to transform conflicts into new possibilities.

How you nominate persons or groups for the Livia Prize

We need the following information from you:

1. Name of the person or organisation you want to promote.
2. Short motivation and how it meets our criteria.
3. If possible, some documentation of the activity or project that has been carried out and merits the Prize.
4. Contact details to the nominated person(s) and organisation – email, phone, postal address, website.
5. Who you who nominate are – your name, phone number e-mail address and relation (if any) to the person or organisation you promote.

Please send this information to:

Jan Oberg, TFF director
to: oberg@transnational.org

And, again, the deadline this year is September 16, 2016