Thu, Dec 29, 2005

Dealing Constructively with Intractable Conflicts - An Online Course from Beyond Intractability.org

Dealing Constructively with Intractable Conflicts is a college-level course built on the Beyond Intractability website content. The course focuses primarily on long-lasting, difficult-to-resolve conflicts, but it also has a lot of general conflict resolution material. About half of the material is theoretical, covering topics such as: The nature and causes of intractable conflict Why some conflicts are more or less tractable than others Dynamics of intractable conflicts? How intractable conflicts end? The other half of the material is more practical, covering such questions as: How does one do a conflict assessment? What types of intervention are needed to transform intractable conflicts? How do these different types of intervention work? How are interventions evaluated?

The course can be taken with two different levels of feedback from instructors, or it can be browsed and read without the formal support or awarding of a certificate of completion at the end.

Tue, Dec 27, 2005

Games and Exercises - A Manual for Facilitators and Trainers

This 200-page illustrated manual, Games and Exercises - A Manual for Facilitators and Trainers Involved in Participatory Group Events is available for download as a pdf (1.34MB) from the United Nations System Staff College. It was written to fill a gap. Although there are many collections of games and exercises for group processes for business and educational settings, only a small percentage of these have proven to be useful in international and cross-cultural settings. Many are heavily grounded in one culture and do not easily translate. The games and exercises in this manual have been carefully selected with an intercultural application in mind, especially, but not necessarily, in the area of international development. The games included here are in addition to those described in the larger and also impressive manual on Visualization in Participatory Programmes (VIPP) produced by UNICEF in Bangladesh in 1993.

The editors note that this manual is not an original piece of writing. It is a compilation of games and exercises which have been tried and tested in many settings across the globe. They have been adapted from a wide collection of existing publications and have been found to be the best for facilitation and training in diverse settings. The decision to produce the manual arose out of a global consultation for VIPP facilitators which was held in Mauritius in June 1995. Many new games, included here, were introduced and tested at that event. Participants were asked to contribute other games and exercises for possible inclusion. These were collected and formatted by UNICEF’s Eastern and Southern Africa Office (ESARO) in Nairobi and taken to a meeting in Jaipur, India in January 1996, where the collection was further refined and the introductory sections written.

CONTENTS

The activities are divided into the following sections for ease of use:

Icebreakers and Getting to Know Each Other
Warm-ups and Energizers
Communication
Perceptions
Intercultural Communication
Team-building and Cooperation
Conflict Management
Case Studies and Role Play
Gender Analysis and Sensitization
Creativity and Problem-Solving
Relaxation and Meditation
Evaluation
End Games

Sat, Dec 24, 2005

Reporting Canada - Conflict Resolution News Page

Reporting Canada is a regularly updated page of Conflict Resolution News offered by the Conflict Resolution Network Canada.  Focusing on stories about conflict resolution across Canada and internationally, Reporting Canada, draws from thousands of publications to bring readers the latest stories on conflict resolution, with direct links to the original story posted daily on their Web site. The news is prepared by a dedicated team of volunteers and then each week, Editor Sandra Lewis selects highlights from the previous week’s news to be included in a weekly e-mail to subscribers. If you would like to be kept up-to-date with the latest positive conflict resolution news from Canada and beyond, you can sign up here.

Fri, Dec 23, 2005

Conflict Hotline Live Radio Show - Hear it Dec. 29, 2006

The Bay Area Nonviolent Communication group recently announced an opportunity to learn more about Nonviolent Communication by listening live when Miki Kashtan hosts the Conflict Hotline live call-in show on KPFA on Thursday, December 29, at noon Pacific time/3:00 pm EST. Connect and listen online at http://www.kpfa.org or if you live in the San Francisco bay area, dial up 94.1 FM.  Archives of past Conflict Hotline shows are also available online.

Wed, Dec 21, 2005

Strategic Questioning: A Web Resource

The Strategic Questioning web resource is based on a paper by Fran Peavey. Strategic Questioning is “the skill of asking questions that will make a difference.” Lots of useful ideas here for mediators and facilitators. The full paper is available for download as a pdf or one can use the online version.

Some Strategic Questioning ideas from the website:

ASKING A QUESTION that leads to a strategy for action is a powerful contribution to resolving any problem.

ASKING QUESTIONS that open up more options can lead to many unexpected solutions.

ASKING QUESTIONS that help adversaries shift from their stuck positions on an issue can lead to acts of healing and reconciliation.

ASKING QUESTIONS that are unaskable in our culture at the moment can lead to the transformation of our culture and its institutions.

ASKING QUESTIONS and listening for the strategies and ideas embedded in people’s own answers can be the greatest service a social change worker can give to a particular issue.

Sun, Dec 18, 2005

100 Ways to Energize Groups - Games to Use in Workshops, Meetings and the Community

The International HIV/AIDS Alliance does a lot of training in places all around the globe. To help trainers connect with groups, the Alliance has published a nice collection of generally light and lively activities. The 24-page illustrated manual, available as a pdf, is called 100 Ways to Energize Groups - Games to Use in Workshops, Meetings and the Community.

Fri, Dec 16, 2005

Peace, Conflict and Development: An (online) Interdisciplinary Journal

The Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in the U.K. hosts a well-done online journal entitled Peace, Conflict and Development. Articles are available as pdfs. The open-access journal focuses on contemporary issues in Conflict and Peace Studies. It aims to publish innovative and accessible writing on a wide range of topics – human rights, democracy and democratisation, conflict resolution, environment, security, war, culture, identity and community, and other related areas of interest. The archives go back to 2002.

The journal is published twice annually - in January and July. Papers for the January issue should be submitted by October 1st ; Papers for the June issue should be submitted by April 1st.

Thu, Dec 15, 2005

Recipients of Ford Foundation Difficult Dialogues Grants ($100,000 each)

The Ford Foundation has just released their list of 27 higher education institutions that will receive grants of $100,000 each for projects that promote campus environments where sensitive subjects can be discussed in a spirit of open scholarly inquiry, academic freedom and with respect for different viewpoints. Congratulations to the winners and to the Foundation for supporting campus conflict resolution through their Difficult Dialogues initiative.

Tue, Dec 13, 2005

Ingenious - see things differently

Ingenious is a new website sponsored by the UK’s National Museum of Science and Industry (NMSI) that brings together images and viewpoints to create insights into science and culture. It attempts to weave unusual and thought-provoking connections between people, innovations and ideas, helping people think in new ways.  Drawing on the resources of NMSI, the site contains over 30,000 images which are used to illustrate over 30 different subjects, topics and debates, including CONFLICT. The READ section on conflict starts off saying “If technology makes conflicts more destructive, wreaking immense harm to communities and individuals, these conflicts also foster creativity and innovation, producing new ways of doing things and new products that have enriched our lives…”

The key NMSI contributors to the site are the Science Museum, the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, the National Railway Museum, the Science & Society Picture Library and the Science Museum Library.

International Crisis Group video

The International Crisis Group has produced a new video to mark its tenth anniversary. The 6+ minute video, available as a real media file, chronicles the group’s growth as an independent, global research and advocacy organisation, with over 110 staff members on five continents working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. The 10.2MB can be downloaded from Crisis Group’s website using this link.

Fri, Dec 09, 2005

Global Peace Film Festival - Orlando Florida

The 3rd Annual Global Peace Film Festival runs December 7 through December 11th 2005 in Orlando Florida. Over 40 features, documentaries and shorts will be shown, along with panel discussions and guest speakers. The Global Peace Film Festival originated in 2003 with the mission of utilizing the power of the moving image to further the goal of peace on earth. The GPFF organizers seek to create an ongoing festival that will reflect a broad definition of peace, based on Dr. Martin Luther King’s statement “peace is not only the absence of conflict but also the presence of justice.”
Film categories include:
Faith/Interfaith
Art and Peace
Conflict Resolution
Foreign/International
Sci-Fi/Futuristic
Environmental
Coming of Age
Family
War and Peace
History
Women

Thu, Dec 08, 2005

Romanian Mediation Services Promotional Video

This lovely short video premiered in Romania in July of 2003 at the launch of a national mediation awareness campaign. Based upon a Romanian folk tale about two shepherds and a conflict about their flocks, the thirty-second video provides a humorous look at a universal problem. Produced by McCann Erickson, the clip has been broadcast to millions of Romanian households. You can watch it online here. The video was developed through a joint initiative between the Community Mediation and Safety Center in Iasi, Romania and the Victim Offender Mediation Association.

Fri, Dec 02, 2005

Audio Theatre Conflict and Cooperation in Faribault

The Faribault Minnesota Heritage Preservation Commission has been working to engage young people in their community with respect to the history of their town and region. The play you can hear on this portion of their website, “Conflict and Cooperation”, is historical fiction, based on actual facts and events that happened in 1862 and 1863. It gives voice to the people who lived in Faribault at this time, often using direct quotes attributed to individuals drawn from the era’s historical documentation. The play was recorded in May of 2003 at the Minnesota Academy for the Blind by students from Roosevelt Middle School, under the direction of 6th grade teacher Linda Dean.

The first scene of Act 1 introduces us to some of the members of the Farmer Band of Dakota Indians, led by Taopi. The Farmer Band of Indians has broken off from the larger band of Dakota; they have adopted many ways of white culture and living. The other Dakota are angry at the treatment they have received from the U.S. government over the years, and in 1862, their rage boils over. The actions taken by the Dakota, by the town settlers, and by Taopi and his band will have an impact on the town of Faribault, the state and the entire country for decades to come…

Have a listen, why don’t you?

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