CCTS
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From 'Co-ordinating Training' to 'Transformation Support'

In September 1997, the Co-ordinating Committee for Conflict Resolution Training in Europe (CCCRTE), held an in-depth discussion about its own role and functioning, to which co-founder and member Adam Curle gave some written input, since he could not attend in person.

In reaction to the issues raised by Adam, the committee members in attendance gave their personal views on how they had experienced the work and meetings from the CCCRTE's beginning some five years ago. Among the achievements were counted the fact that the committee had contributed to the multiplication of conflict resolution training and related activities in former Yugoslavia and to the emergence of a group of increasingly experienced people to do this work in their own situations; that it had contributed to the formation of some groups and organisations and helped them think critically about their development; that it had not imposed pre-conceived methods or approaches; and that it had successfully organised some exchanges between 'trainers' and recipients of training and two equally successful day workshops on critical issues.

Shortcomings, frustrations

Some of the shortcomings and frustrations mentioned were that the committee was not sufficiently pro-active; that we informed but did not learn as much from each other and our work as we could; that it had not managed to involve more people from outside the UK; that in former Yugoslavia it had ended up working with a relatively narrow range of contacts; and that it had not succeeded in multiplying the group of people doing the multiplying.

It was decided that the committee would try to broaden its membership base, exploring the possibilities by inviting appropriate people or organizations to one of the day workshops that it intends to organise in future. It was also decided to change the name of the committee in order to better reflect what it currently considers to be its mandate and type of work, and the geographical scope of its involvement.

As far as the former is concerned, the general view was that 'training' was no longer the most appropriate label, since the support we offer is wider than that, and that the co-ordinating function had been largely fictitious. In terms of the geographical scope, Europe would remain the chief focus, but more attention would be given to comparisons with pieces of work conducted in other parts of the world, given the fact that most member organisations do not limit their work to Europe. As a result of all this, the new name is Committee for Conflict Transformation Support (CCTS).

Guus Meijer and Diana Francis

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