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by Francesca Cerletti and Susan Morris
Peace Direct organised this workshop to draw new people into the realm of dealing with conflict and peace building. The event explored the similarities and differences between the appearance and treatment of conflicts on the micro and macro levels, looking at personal, group, community, national and international conflicts. The event was well facilitated by Ruth Musgrave of Conflict and Change and John Lampen of The Hope Project
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There was a great demand for the event and it was quickly oversubscribed. People attended from a variety of backgrounds, including social care, public health, local government, those working and interested in mediation, and peace building, as well as international students of peace and conflict related topics.
Expectations of participants ranged from developing connections with others to learning methods of mediation, and how work at one level may be applied at another.
The facilitators introduced different tools (drawing from Galtung’s and the Transcend school of thinking as well as mediation techniques) which can be used to understand the dynamics of conflict and to develop strategies to deal with it. Participants were encouraged to apply them to real case scenarios ranging from the family to the environment to war.
The event was very successful – the key to success being the involvement and enthusiasm of both facilitators and participants. Everyone agreed the event provided a wonderful opportunity for creating and renewing connections with others. We had opportunities to chat prior to the workshop, within the workshop, over a salad buffet lunch and afterwards over a cup of tea and flapjack.
On the whole there were 3 main realisations in the day. They were that:
- There is a ‘moment’ when a decision is made by parties to pursue conflict, or not. Hence the need to ‘capture the moment’.
- Conflicts are chaotic, requiring a structured strategic approach towards resolution. However, the resolution of complex conflictual situations may be facilitated by the effective use of simple tools.
- Skills applicable to a local/‘micro’ context may apply to work in a global/‘macro’ context.
We must thank all those who were involved in this workshop as everyone contributed to making it an enjoyable experience. |
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