Innovation in complex social systems

Marianne "Mille" Bojer

Mille is an experienced facilitator and designer of group dialogue and change processes. She recently relocated to Sao Paulo to set up Reos in Brazil, after living and working for 8 years in South Africa. Her recent work with Reos Partners in South Africa was focused on three large multi-stakeholder projects addressing the challenges of HIV/AIDS and orphans and vulnerable children at community and national level.

In her capacity as a professional facilitator, she has previously worked with a variety of clients internationally, primarily civil society organizations, including Civicus: The World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, World Vision International, the Common Futures Forum, The African Network of Women with Disabilities, the SADC Civil Society Gathering for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and the Fetzer Institute, as well as a variety of South African organizations. She is co-author of “Mapping Dialogue”, a forthcoming book developed with Nelson Mandela Foundation, GTZ, and the Taos Institute outlining a variety of dialogue methodologies and important principles and approaches to dialogue.

Mille is also one of the founders of Pioneers of Change (www.pioneersofchange.net), a learning community of young change agents across the world. During the course of her work with Pioneers of Change she developed extensive experience in facilitating learning communities, hosting dialogue, as well as in network- and organization-building.

Mille holds a master’s degree in Political Science focusing on international development from the University of Copenhagen, and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in the same field. Her master’s degree thesis was based on seven months of field work in Burkina Faso and focused on the role of multilateral development agencies in institutional capacity-building. Born in Denmark, she has spent more than half her life abroad in Egypt, the United States, Burkina Faso, The Netherlands, Brazil, and South Africa. With her in Sao Paulo are her husband Maikel Lieuw-Kie-Song and her son, Felix.