The goal of the Peace Mediation Course is for participants to deepen their understanding of peace mediation and acquire the skills, knowledge and attitudes to support mediation processes effectively. The course also aims to create a network of mediators and experts involved in peace processes.
The course focuses on peace negotiations that include the top leadership of conflict parties and a mediator or a facilitator. A comprehensive approach to mediation and facilitation is the basis of the course. Such an approach takes into account the different phases, relevant actors and topics of peace negotiations. Key questions addressed in the Peace Mediation Course include:
- Content: What are the relevant topics in today’s peace processes?
- Micro-skills: How does one deal with the nuts and bolts of negotiating and mediating peace agreements?
- Process management: How does one design a peace process? Who articipates in peace negotiations, and how should their diverse agendas be included? When is which third party best suited to play an effective role? What aspects of implementation have to be considered already during the negotiation phase?
To address these questions, the course uses the following training methodology:
Experience oriented: The Peace Mediation Course is experience driven. The basic learning tools will be past and ongoing mediation cases – for example in Burundi, Guatemala, Kenya, South Africa, Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, Northern Ireland or Indonesia. Conceptual frameworks are used to help grasp these experiences.
Interactive learning: All the training sessions are highly interactive.
Head, heart, and hands: Attitudes and values are as important in mediation as knowledge and 'technical' skills. The course aims at a comprehensive and self-reflective approach to mediation.
