Day 1
Morning 9h30 – 13h00
- Mediation: Preparation and starting phase
- Every conflict is the same
- Conflict theory and conflict diagnosis
- How you look makes what you see, dealing with own judgements and working with hypothesis, neuropsychology
Skills:
- Active listening, partialising
Afternoon: 14h00 – 16h00
Neuropsychology / Neurobiology
- Our brains construct our reality based on past experiences. We will discuss how this can cause biases in how we perceive, think and feel, that are mostly adaptive, but can also be maladaptive or create conflict, when perceptions between people do not align.
Day 2
Morning 9h30 – 13h00
- Mediation: Exploration phase
- Everybody wants to feel safe
- Conflict Escalation
- Emotion Focused Mediation
- Patterns and interaction
- Trauma informed practices
Skills:
- Mirroring. Reflection on content, emotion, intention. Metacommuncation.
Afternoon: 14h00 – 16h00
Religion / Theology
Understanding trauma and conflict: background and theory.
1. Personal trauma: What is trauma. Trauma and identity, coping and resilience. How to speak about trauma. Self-care.
2. Trauma of the other: How to recognize and be supportive of trauma victims. Trauma window of tolerance; the crocodile; safety, integration and connectedness.
3. Collective trauma: collective and transgenerational trauma. How to speak about it; how to remember rightly in post-conflict societies/communities. Dynamics in trauma triangles. How to create trauma sensitive communities.
Day 3
Morning 9h30 – 13h00
- Mediation: exploration phase II
- From position to interests
- The concept of the iceberg. How to explore positions and collect interests.
Skills:
- Reframing, peeling the onion.
Afternoon: 14h00 – 16h00
Restorative Justice
What is Restorative Justice and why is it important? How can Restorative Justice be stimulated?
Restorative justice seeks to examine the harmful impact of a crime and then determines what can be done to repair that harm while holding the person who caused it accountable for his or her actions. Accountability for the offender means accepting responsibility and acting to repair the harm done.
Day 4
Morning 9h30 – 13h00
- Mediation: Transition Phase
- Mediation: Negotiation Phase
- Guiding parties in making choices
- Interventions to come to a result
Skills:
- Transition questions, facilitating brainstorm, circular questions.
Afternoon: 14h00 – 16h00
Transitional Justice
What is Transitional Justice and why is it important? How can Transitional Justice be stimulated?
Transitional Justice aims to provide recognition to victims, enhance the trust of individuals in state institutions, reinforce respect for human rights and promote the rule of law. As a step towards reconciliation and the prevention of new violations.
Day 5
Morning 9h30 – 13h00
- Mediation: Completion phase
- Levels of conflict resolution
- You as a mediator
Skills:
- Evaluating the process, self-reflection, professional growth.
Afternoon: 14h00 – 16h00
Political science
Driving forces of conflict: the main known driving forces of armed conflict. Some basic descriptive statistics on the types of armed conflicts (interstate wars and civil wars). The security dilemma as the basic condition in international politics that facilitates the escalation of conflict. The main driving forces to be discussed are the distribution of power between states, their mutual interdependence (e.g. in terms of trade) and their domestic politics, including their regime type (democracy or autocracy).
Readiness to mediate and negotiate. The challenges to mediation and negotiation that grow in the course of conflict. The self-logic of violence which impacts negatively on the readiness to negotiate. William Zartman's ripeness model: it requires a mutually hurting stalemate for parties to a conflict to start serious negotiations. How wars typically end (e.g. in a negotiated settlement or with a one-sided victory or a ceasefire).
