DEEP ThoughtBoxes

ThoughtBox is delighted to have teamed up with DEEP Germany to collaborate on educational projects with schools and young change makers across Europe. 

DEEP Germany is a non-profit association which advocates for positive change towards a more sustainable and peaceful world. They do this through a series of projects and activities, all built around the notion of bringing people together, encouraging dialogue and discussion and promoting tolerance and peace.

Explore more of their ideas in the short video entitled 'What is Peace?':

One of DEEP Germany's main areas of focus is Training & Education through which the DEEP team plans, creates and implements project days for schools on the topic of peace and sustainable development. As part of these projects, the DEEP team took over a school in Madrid for three days earlier this year, running consecutive project days based around sustainable development and peace education. Over 800 students and 80 staff worked on four different aspects across the project: Social Inequality, Sustainable Consumption, Migration Crisis and Terrorism. Discussions and debates were then created using the forum of a 'World Cafe' and presentations and exhibitions were given at the end of the workshops. 

DEEP Germany also fosters empathic engagement and critical thinking through a series of Intercultural Encounters. Within this context, the group run a range of projects and gatherings such as theatre, cooking or football events amongst migrants, refugees and local German communities, providing opportunities to gain fresh views on societal problems whilst reflecting upon one's own role and remaining open and active in promoting tolerance and empathy. See their Projects Page for more information. 

DEEP Germany is part of an international N.G.O called Global DEEP Network. Standing for Dialogue, Empathic Engagement and Peacebuilding, the DEEP network is a global community currently working in 17 countries including Japan, Afghanistan, Australia, Indonesia and Pakistan.

All of the DEEP organisations - or 'nodes' as they are called - are working alongside each other across the world, sharing common values and beliefs and supporting each other's efforts. Each DEEP network is striving to build a nonviolent and ecologically sustainable world where people everywhere are able to live a good life ("Buen Vivir") in peace.

DEEP believes that we all have much to gain and lessons to learn from marginalised communities when dealing with our myriad global problems, be they ecological degradation, violent conflict, racism, inequality or alienation. They firmly believe that peace is the norm in human life and the violence taking place in several parts of the world is the anomaly.

DEEP Germany and ThoughtBox will be working together on a variety of education projects to foster peaceful, active and critical engagement with societal issues of today, all of which will encompass the core aims of ThoughtBox: Critical Thinking, Empathy Building and Unlearning.  One of the first projects of the collaboration will be establishing an interactive cross-cultural sharing platform  - called Youth Café  - to bring young people from a range of different countries and communities together in dialogue (more details to follow soon).

Learn more about the  Global DEEP Network or the German node by visiting the website here or meet some of the core DEEP Germany members below.

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Meet some of the DEEP Germany members

Lina Westermann

Lina Westermann is a peace practitioner and advocate of intercultural dialogue. She holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies and Social Sciences from the University of Cologne and a M.A. in Peace, Conflict and Development Studies from the UNESCO Chair of Philosophy for Peace in Castellón, Spain.
She is passionate about connecting people and bridging divides through culinary projects, sports and peace education. With her German-Peruvian background, she has a special research interest in indigenous knowledges and cosmovisions and concepts such as Buen Vivir. She has coordinated and planned several educational projects and social events amongst others the Human Rights Festival in Cologne.

Marisol Cristina Bock

Marisol Cristina Bock is an advocate of peace and intercultural dialogue. She has lived in 6 different countries and switches between languages and cultures with ease and sensitivity. She has a B.A. in Arts and Culture from Maastricht University and a M.A. in Peace, Conflict and Development Studies at the UNESCO Chair of Philosophy for Peace in Castellón, Spain. Marisol is enthusiastic about interdisciplinary academia and aims to move beyond conventional thinking patterns. This has led her to collaboration with research projects within a wide range of social sciences. In the practical field, Marisol has been involved in co-creating and managing educational projects around peace building, intercultural dialogue, music and martial arts. She has worked with people from diverse origins, generations and social backgrounds in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Israel/Palestine, Egypt and Indonesia. Marisol is passionate about holistic project design, systems thinking and the connections between personal growth and social change.

Mirko Murad Sbeih

Mirko Murad Sbeih is a peace practitioner and social innovator. He holds a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Maastricht as well as an International Master’s Degree in Peace, Conflict and Development Studies from the UNESCO Chair of Philosophy for Peace in Castellón, Spain. As a practitioner Mirko is versed in skills related to organizational management, negotiation and leadership. Following his passion for investigation and implementation of structural social change, Mirko has been an active member of several organizations, dealing with intercultural dialogue as well as local capacity building and simple innovative technological solutions for sustainable development. Within the ‘Global DEEP Network’, he links his academic and professional expertise to practical projects in the field of peacebuilding.

Wibke Gehringer

Wibke Gehringer is a peace practitioner and works as a manager and social worker at a refugee shelter of the German Red Cross, where she is part of an intercultural team. She holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies from Cologne University as well as a M.A. in Peace, Conflict, and Development Studies from the UNESCO Chair of Philosophy for Peace in Castellón, Spain. Wibke is passionate about interdisciplinary research in Peace and Conflict Studies and focuses on intercultural identities, immigration, and post- and de-colonialism. She is fluent in English, Spanish and German and has work experience in various projects in Peru, Argentina, Tanzania, Spain and Germany, among others. Since 2015, Wibke has been an active member of the Global DEEP Network and co-founded DEEP Germany. DEEP reflects her philosophy and work promoting a more peaceful and sustainable world.

Janosch Sbeih

Janosch Sbeih is a new economics advocate promoting policies, institutions and organisational structures that are designed to put the well-being of people and planet at their core. After working in Johannesburg, Janosch studied at the University College Maastricht where he approached topics of sustainable development from an interdisciplinary angle. He deepened his passion for alternative organisational models in the M.A. Economics for Transition at Schumacher College, Plymouth University. At the International University College Turin, he pursued his interest in innovative governance institutions for the commons in the LL.M. Comparative Law, Economics and Finance. Janosch worked for the German development cooperation agency GIZ and is currently employed as a research fellow for an ‘EU Horizon 2020’ project investigating social innovation in the maker movement. He is also part of the Spiritual Ecology Fellowship Programme of St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace.

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