1999/2000
Consultancy Highlights
SOS Sahel International and International Institute for Environment and Development UK (IIED)
This was a follow-up to a training in conflict management which RTC provided in July 1999, also in El Obeid, for the SOS Sahel Natural Forest Management Project at El Ain. In the interval between the two training workshops the El Ain Project staff undertook mediation to resolve a local dispute between villagers and nomadic pastoralists, using many of the skills developed at the workshop. In September four days were spent reviewing this mediation and learning the lessons for future interventions, and field visits were made to hear the views of the parties involved. There were then two days of further micro-skills training in mediation.
* Co-facilitator: Omer Ishaq (Oxfam, Sudan)
Joint Committee for Democratisation and Conciliation (JCDC) and Moldovan Initiative Committee of Management (MICOM)
RTC was part of a team of ten facilitators and resource people of a seminar entitled "Living with Conflict - the Role of Local Authorities," which was the third in a series organised by JCDC and MICOM with the aim of helping different levels of leadership, particularly Local Authorities, to work collaboratively towards mutually beneficial development and the resolution of their conflict. The seminar included analysis of the current conflict situation in the region, training (including approaches to conflict resolution) and action planning.
DED and UNDP, through the ‘Development and Conflict Resolution' component of its Area Reconstruction Scheme (ARS)/ Kadugli.
Co-facilitation of a workshop that focused on developing tools to enable project staff to analyse the dynamics of the volatile situations in which they are often working and to assess the impact of their programmes in relation to actual and potential conflicts in the area. Participants in the Kadugli workshop included ARS staff and local government representatives. This workshop followed and built on a two week course at the DED headquarters in Berlin in November 1998, which was also facilitated by RTC.
University of Birmingham School of Public Policy/ UK
RTC taught seven sessions of the post-graduate course on Conflict, Humanitarian Aid and Social Reconstruction during the autumn term, as well as setting and grading essays and exam questions for the course. Participants were MA students, culturally very diverse, drawn from programmes in development studies, peacekeeping, international diplomacy and poverty reduction.
Oekumenisches Studienwerk (OSW), in cooperation with Arbeitsstelle Frieden und onfliktbearbeitung, Bonn, and Oekumenisches Werkstatt/ Frankfurt
Co-facilitation of a seminar based on presentations and small group work on case studies, with inputs from RTC on conflict analysis and mediation. The nineteen participants, all recipients of OSW Ecumenical Scholarships, came from a wide range of conflict-affected areas, including Ethiopia, Cameroon, Sudan, Tanzania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, India, Palestine, Indonesia, Congo and Rwanda. A follow-up seminar was requested and held in January 2000 (see below).
* Co-facilitators: Inge Leuken (Oekumenisches Studienwerk) and Wolfgang Heinrich (Arbeitstelle Frieden und Konfliktbearbeitung)
British Red Cross Society/ Sierra Leone
This was a five day workshop for senior management and programme staff of the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society, together with SLRCS field officers, health officers, heads of branches and members of the governing board. It focused initially on conflict analysis and negotiation/ mediation frameworks, but the second part of the workshop was devoted to detailed activity planning. The workshop was preceded and followed by meetings with Heads of Delegation of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and with the SLRCS Director of Programmes and Secretary General.
North West Sustainable Development Foundation/ Bulgaria
Facilitation of a seven day seminar entitled "Women from Bulgaria and Macedonia in Ethnic Conflict Resolution", held in a small town in the northwest region of Bulgaria. RTC input focused on negotiation and mediation training. A core of nine participants (six Macedonian women, two Bulgarian men and a Bulgarian woman) attended all the sessions, with other participants and resource people coming in for part of the week. This was the first seminar of its kind in Bulgaria and was funded by Charity Know How UK.
* Co-facilitator: Tanya Dronzina (WWC 1999).
Oekumenisches Studienwerk (OSW), in co-operation with Arbeitsstelle Frieden und Konfliktbearbeitung, Bonn, and Oekumenisches Werkstatt/ Frankfurt.
This was a follow-up to the seminar in October 1999 (see above) and all but one of the previous participants took part, together with three new people who had been briefed on what they had missed. This was a very practical three days, focusing on interventions and strategy building.
Deutsche Entwicklungsdienst (DED)
A workshop for twenty-three staff from the DED preparation division and the regional offices, together with DED language tutors, with slightly more women than men participating. DED has been asked to take a major role in implementing the German Government's Civilian Peace Service programme, and RTC was invited to help DED work through its possible conceptualisation and implementation.
*Co-facilitators: Sharon McMullen Ansorge, Almut Schmechel-Wagner; Leila Hamaiel
FARM Africa/ Ethiopia
A six day workshop on "Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Skills" for FARM Africa's Joint Forest Management project staff and Department of Agriculture partners from the Bonga and Chilimo project areas; several members of SOS Sahel's Borana Forest Management project team also attended. The aim was to develop the teams' capacity to facilitate negotiations and conflict resolution between different stakeholder groups who are using the forest and forest products.
* Co-facilitator: Yusuf Hassan (Peace and Development Committee; also Working with Conflict 3 and ACTION Core Group)
SOS Sahel
A needs assessment visit to the Borana Collaborative Forest Management Project, part of the Shared Management of Common Property Resources action research programme of SOS Sahel and IIED (see above).
Oxfam/ Sri Lanka
The aim was to provide participants from Sri Lankan development NGOs throughout the country with an introduction to the theoretical knowledge and practical skills needed to integrate conflict awareness into their programmes. There were approximately 60 participants, most of whom came from Oxfam's local partner organisations in the country.
* Co-facilitator: Nick Lewer (Bradford Department of Peace Studies
RTC in collaboration with the Centre for Interethnic Cooperation/ Moscow
Design and planning consultations for the project "Prevention of Ethnic Conflict in Russian Cities". Funded by the British Council, UK.
Deutsche Entwicklungsdienst Germany (DED), German Agro Action, UNDP Sudan, Area Reconstruction Scheme/ Kadugli/ Sudan
This was a follow-up to the first workshop held in Kadugli in September 1999 (see above). The focus now was on evaluating what had been achieved and further strengthening conflict skills.
* Co-facilitators: Omer Ishaq (Oxfam Sudan and ACTION) and Mathias Mogge (Agro Action).
Deutsche Entwicklungsdienst (DED), UNDP Sudan
A workshop attended by NGOs working in Sudan and government representatives, providing an introduction to tools for analysis, a space for sharing experience and an opportunity to explore strategies for taking a more proactive approach to conflict transformation in Sudan.
Balkan Dialogue Project (Belgrade and Montenegro offices), Nansenskolen, Government of Norway/ Federal Republic of Yugoslavia/ Montenegro
The Balkan Dialogue Project aims to promote long-term understanding between the different groups and nations making up the Balkan region. Its strategy is to develop local offices in key places, each of which initiates its own programmes. The focus is initially on younger, educated people.
In this consultancy, itself part of a substantial programme involving resource people from other countries, Simon Fisher and Tanya Popovic facilitated two three-day workshops, in collaboration with other members of the Belgrade and Montenegro offices. One workshop was attended by Serbians of widely differing political views, the other by Montenegrins of equally differing viewpoints.
The aim was to introduce methods of conflict analysis and intervention in such a way that participants explored opposing political and social viewpoints and developed strong interpersonal relationships across divisive political boundaries.
* Co-facilitator: Tanya Popovic (WWC 10 and ACTION).
Deutsche Entwicklungsdienst (DED)/ Germany
Workshop with eight DED headquarters staff, including the new head of the Peace Service section, to elaborate and revise existing plans for modules for training German Peace Service volunteers, and to increase the capacity of DED staff to deliver these.
FARM Africa
This workshop aimed to enable the project team to include conflict resolution as an integral part of their work on natural resource management in a situation where there is continual tension between users of pasture, forest, water and other resources. A follow-up has been arranged for later in the year.
* Co-facilitator: Abebe Haile (SOS Sahel Borana Project)
Centre for Conflict Management/ Kazakhstan
Third International Summer School: "Methods of Conflict Management and Prevention". This event brings together professionals and activists from the Central Asia region to share information about their work and to strengthen their conflict-related skills. RTC has been invited to co-facilitate all three of these summer schools to date. They are well received, and the evaluations show that they undoubtedly give added impetus to peace-building and rights work in the region. Funding by the World Bank and the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Federal Government
* Co-facilitators: Lada Zimina, Tanya Markina and Elena Sadovskaya (Centre for Conflict Management, Almaty).