“Empowerment does not come about immediately or by accident.  It is achieved by planning that consciously incorporates certain basic dynamics, and by a training style that consciously seeks to transfer power from the facilitators to the participants” AVP Basic Manual C-2

It is not a journey of steps that can be sequenced or measured, but rather a collection of Transforming Power moments that build upon one another in the individual participant’s memory.  Whatever community you are volunteering in, there will be workshop moments you are privileged to witness… Whatever and wherever the community is in which you facilitate AVP, these moments when you witness Transforming Power will occur, and you will recognize with great joy that you helped facilitate the experience. Your journey of empowerment will become one of witness and self-discovery, energized by your joy. ^{AVP Facilitators Training Manual 19}

Our organizational model is one of building from the grass roots up. We believe that this approach is essential to nonviolence training.  Our decision making process is one of consensus. We are wary of too much formalization, and we resist anything that might encourage a hierarchy among us.  AVP is not about hierarchy; it is about community, about acknowledging and encouraging the potential of all of us to grow and develop, and about working together by agreement and without coercion.” AVP Basic Manual A-5