A Story Behind “Living Together”

On November 19, Yuliya Filippovska (1st row, 2nd from the left), the founder of the “Living Together” project, shared her story about the project within the SINGA Stories event at the Fédération des Entreprises Romandes Genève (FER Genève). We share this story here:

What do you think is the most fragile, and at the same time most stable thing in the world today? 
My answer is: relationships.

My name is Yuliya Filippovska. I come from Kyiv, Ukraine.
The land of abundance and generosity, the land of blood and wars for centuries.

It is in my DNA to turn difficulties into soil for growth; to see polarities, splits, and divisions as a potential for learning and community building.

After working in a corporation and developing social projects in Kyiv, I devoted myself to studying relationships. I realized that behind issues and problems, there were people who didn’t get along with each other (Mindell, 2014). I went through the Deep Democracy Institute training for 15 years in a multicultural community. I am happy to be part of it and continue my learning.

I’m a researcher, facilitator, and coach, and I do international diplomacy on a grassroots level. I know that changes start in communities, not by politicians.

My PhD and my passion are facilitating alternative public spaces where we can not only harm and kill each other, but also do something creative out of our diversity.

Living Together is a project that emerged from my PhD research and is shaped into a research and consulting company thanks to SINGA Switzerland. We facilitate relationships, and we are good at growing communities and competencies. We do it through open forums, interactive dialogues, retreats, workshops, research, and coaching.

It is a Swiss-Ukrainian collaboration, as I do it together with a great friend and colleague from Bern, Magdalena Schatzmann. In addition, we are linked to the international network of top-notch facilitators to join us, depending on tasks.

We have already hosted four events, with three of them taking place in the community of students through the Peacebuilding Initiative and GISA at the Geneva Graduate Institute. We got positive feedback, and we are inspired by the young generation of leaders. It is an amazing collaboration.

The vision behind this project is that it’s not only a research and consulting project, but an alternative to the peace movement. There are no winners and losers in relationships; the end of war is not peace, but growing together, with peace as a natural outcome, and not an imposed agenda.

I believe that valuing and relating to the other is the best security strategy for tomorrow. And I want to live in a world where communities lead, not two men deciding the fate of the world. For that, though, facilitation is crucial, and it is still lacking in most public discussions.

I invite you to invest in relationships, with “Living Together” or without. However, with us, it will be more fun and enjoyable. Not only we work with your team, group, and community on better relationships, hence more effectiveness and better results, but we also share knowledge that you can apply in your life and work.

Connect with us to learn how it works: www.livingtogether.world.

Visual by SINGA Switzerland.