Facilitator Duke Duchscherer is a former member of the Board of Directors for the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence. Duke leads learning events in Nonviolent Communication and Restorative Dialogue (based on Restorative Circles as developed by Dominic Barter and the favela communities in Brazil) to deepen his work in peace building, reconciliation, trauma healing, and restorative processes.

He has had the privilege of working around the world with a depth and breadth of peoples from small villages at the grassroots to governmental leaders at the United Nations on five continents. He also has taught in the Masters Peace Building programs at the European Peace University in Austria, the World Peace Academy in Switzerland, and Hacettepe University, Turkey.

Some of Duke’s work has included guiding trauma healing for those horribly affected by the Boko Haram activities in Nigeria. A large part of his work has focused on supporting the transformation of active conflicts such as leading a series of restorative dialogues between the Ukrainian army and the pro-Russian community where they reside near the warfront in Ukraine; or guiding dialogue between those supporting independence for Catalonia and those wanting to remain connected with Spain; or facilitating dialogue between state-level government officials, minority/indigenous groups, and those who have been directly harmed by strikes, protests, and border closings due to the promulgation of the new Nepal constitution.

Duke has also worked extensively in the area of reconciliation leading numerous dialogues to create understanding, healing, and clear actions between communities who have experienced severe violence. For example, he has facilitated reconciliation dialogues between former Shining Path & MRTA rebels, former military, civil society leaders, and those directly harmed during the ‘time of violence’ in Peru; or between Rwandan genocide survivors and recently released prisoners who killed their families. (see the documentaries In The Eyes of the Good and Together for Peace, and the website, Together We Thrive for examples of Duke’s work).

Duke really enjoys working with people from a variety of backgrounds to learn with them in creating understanding and seeing each other in ways that generate connection, harmony, and peace.