Masterclasses | 15 October

On 15 October, the NECE Festival offers a variety of masterclasses in Lisbon, Cascais and Sintra to deep dive into different topics. Toolkits will be provided, and new competencies will be trained to strengthen civic educators in their skills and effectiveness. The participation requires pre-registration. The link will be shared with subscribed participants shortly before the festival.

Experiencing the Circle of Trust® methodology

*Pre-registration required

This masterclass intends to offer a facilitated space where participants have an introductory experience to the methodology of Circle of Trust. The methodology offers civic educators a cross-cultural framework inspired by centuries-old wisdom traditions that can effectively create the conditions where trust can emerge, not through persuasion or technique, but through the quality of presence and the principles of the conversation. This space proposes learning from the experience itself, within a clearly articulated yet open framework that creates a “bounded open space”, holding each participant at an equidistant position in relation to the center of the circle. We approach trust as a continuous line built through sharing our strengths as well as our edges, our gifts and our vulnerabilities, and not as a performative state. Participants will gain a lived experience of deep listening and the core principles of a Circle of Trust — including Touchstones, the Third Thing, and the paradox of bounded open space. They will leave with a practical framework to integrate into their own work as trust-builders across diverse civic contexts.

*Pre-registration required

This masterclass starts from a shared assumption: trust matters. The question is not whether trust is important for civic education, but how educators can intentionally create the relational conditions that allow trust to emerge across different contexts and communities. The Ubuntu methodology offers a simple yet powerful answer: trust is built through relationships. Rather than focusing primarily on content or knowledge acquisition, Ubuntu intentionally designs the quality of the relationships participants experience throughout the learning journey. This masterclass combines conceptual input, practical examples and collaborative reflection. Participants will be invited not only to understand the Ubuntu methodology, but also to explore how its relational principles can inform the design of transformative civic education experiences in their own professional contexts. The session follows an experiential approach, consistent with the Ubuntu methodology itself, alternating between short conceptual moments, dialogue and collaborative application.

*Pre-registration required

The Edelman Trust Institute is Edelman’s in-house think tank that aims to advance the study and measurement of trust in institutions and their leaders. Its flagship research, the Edelman Trust Barometer, is an annual global survey that studies a range of timely and important societal indicators of trust among business, media, government, and NGOs.

In this masterclass, leaders from the Edelman Trust Institute will share insights on the state of trust in society and its institutions and how trust brokering can drive progress and forward momentum. These learnings will aim to equip NECE Festival attendees with strategies to bridge divides, find shared understanding, and build trust in an insular world.

*Pre-registration required

This masterclass explores how community foundations create and sustain trust in democratic societies marked by polarisation, institutional distrust and social fragmentation. Building on the framing of trust as the “functional infrastructure of social life”, the session will combine specific best-practice examples with practical scenario work to show how Romanian community foundations create conditions for cooperation between people, organisations, donors, public institutions and informal civic actors. It will also invite participants to adopt and adapt selected practices from a community foundations’ toolkit to support their own trust-building work within communities.

*Pre-registration required

Participatory budgeting gives people a direct role in deciding how resources are allocated, creating meaningful opportunities for democratic participation and trust-building. This masterclass will explore participatory budgeting as a practical tool for civic educators, youth workers, NGOs and public institutions, covering both participatory decision-making processes and strategies for securing resources. Participants will gain practical frameworks and examples that can be adapted to their own communities and organisations.

*Pre-registration required

Polarised discourse is both a sign of and a prerequisite for a vibrant democracy, and is necessary for reaching compromises in politics and society. However, when polarisation leads to entrenched positions and unbridgeable divides – as we are currently seeing in the USA and increasingly observing as a trend in European countries – it becomes a threat to democracy.

In this masterclass, participants will learn about the mechanisms and dynamics of polarisation that is harmful to democracy. Sonja Jöchtl and Winfried Kneip from Love Politics provide an initial insight, both in theory and in practice, into methods for recognising the motives behind the ‘other side’s’ polarised stance and for acting appropriately and professionally – rather than merely reacting.They also highlight ways to halt the ‘carousel of outrage’ before it leads to a division in society, to recognise the ‘trigger points’ where polarisation flares up, and to prevent escalation through preventive measures.