Mediators Beyond Borders International

Webinar: How Dialogue Can Help Bridge Unbridgeable Divides

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Join us in a conversation on It’s Not Our Differences that Divide Us…How Dialogue Can Help Bridge Unbridgeable Divides? by Dave Joseph on Tuesday, April 30, 2019, at 2 PM ET. This webinar will reflect on how dialogue can help promote coexistence, connection, mutual respect and understanding in a broad variety of settings.

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Drawing upon his dialogue work in Nigeria, Liberia, Burundi, Greece, Thailand, and the US, Dave will focus on bridging differences of identity (religion, ethnicity, race, gender, etc.), as well as political and ideological differences. The webinar will address the capacity of dialogue to promote the re-humanization of the “Other,” reduce/minimize stereotypes, demonization, and address issues of power differences; and what dialogue can and cannot do; when it may be a useful tool in the practitioner’s toolbox. This webinar will also address the personal qualities and characteristics of the facilitator.

Takeaways will include greater awareness of the key roles of each of the following in dialogue:

  • Clarity and unity of purpose
  • Structures that promote reflection
  • Community/communication agreements
  • Preparation
  • Reflection
  • Inquiry

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Dave Joseph, MSW, is a Senior Associate at Essential Partners (formerly the Public Conversations Project), after serving as Director of Programs from 2005-2017. He has provided training in effective communication, mediation and dialogue training in the United States, Canada, Greece, Thailand, Nigeria, Liberia, and Burundi. He has designed and facilitated respectful, constructive conversations about such polarized issues as immigration, race, class, gender, marriage equality, domestic violence,  and political differences. His international work has focused on promoting interfaith coexistence and collaboration; restoring and enhancing community resilience in post-conflict situations; and immigration.

Dave is a founding member of Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI) and currently serves as its Board Chair. He is an experienced mediator, facilitator, and a consultant who has designed meetings, conferences and strategic initiatives in the US and internationally.

Previously, he co-founded and served as the Executive Director of the Community Mediation Center of Rhode Island. His background also includes having directed mental health and addictions treatment programs for 20 years at community mental health centers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Please note that the deadline to register for this webinar is one day before the event. We will send the Zoom access link to registrants after the registration closing time and on the day of the event. For further information about this our other webinars, contact us at webinars@mediatorsbeyondborders.org.

Join us and stay updated on MBBI’s news and events. 

Transforming Warriors into Peace Guardians. Member Spotlight: Dorina Prech

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Dorina Prech is an active team member of the Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI), Kenya Project. She has been a member since 2012, joining after attending MBBI’s international peace conference held at her university. With a background in mediation, peacebuilding, and conflict studies, Dorina is a community mobilizer and a pastoralist people’s activist championing peace and security in conflict-prone areas of Kenya.

If there is something that breaks your heart and gives you sleepless nights, it is a sign that this is what you are meant to do. That is the duty of the mediator. For me, it is the insecurity and disempowerment of the pastoralists in the Horn of Africa.

At a youth mentorship program underscoring the importance of youth involvement in the country’s development

Northern Kenya is one of the most socio-economically marginalized regions in Kenya, resulting in glaring inequalities between its counties and the rest of the country. The ongoing instability in the Horn of Africa and the persistent inter-ethnic violence continues to threaten regional, county and local peace and cohesion. In the North Rift region, deadly cattle raids and widespread violence is common, as communities clash over water and pasture resources for their most valued source of livelihood: livestock.

Language Bridging Peace

Dorina is from a community deemed ‘one of the most violent in Kenya’, largely due to negative media perception. She felt compelled to change the conflict situation in the North Rift. As a member of MBBI’s Kenya Project, she participated in the design of the Warriors to Peace Guardians framework.  The goal of the program is to enable ethnic communities – largely the youth – in remote Baringo, Laikipia and Samburu counties to interrupt the existing cycle of violence through the adoption of conflict analysis and mediation promoting sustainable co-existence and fostering social stability environment through nonviolent resolutions of conflicts. The Warriors to Peace Guardians framework was successful as it built a broad, diverse, and inclusive network of peace guardians in the three communities.

The Warriors to Peace Guardians framework main goal is resolving the disputes between the warring communities; however, it places a large emphasis on finding common ground and shared aspects between the communities. This method, entitled the Peace Caravan, helps deescalate tension and decrease the outbreak of violence between communities with the end goal of poverty alleviation. Dorina has been a large advocate of cross-community engagement in order to facilitate a more peaceful and a prosperous Northern Kenya. The Warriors to Peace Guardians framework utilizes the influence of local professionals to educate their communities about the need to embrace peace and live in harmony with their perceived enemies. 

Holding Half the Sky

Handing over a Sahiwal bull to a Pokot herder that had won a competition for best-managed cattle during a “Herd is Wealth” celebration in Laikipia County

Dorina wholeheartedly follows the mantra women hold half the sky. She has seen an outstanding transformation of intra- and inter-community relations resulting from actively including women in dispute resolution processes. She advocates for women inclusion by emphasizing the importance to “come to the table with your ideas, not with your titles,” which makes an equity statement by everyone sitting at the same level and standing side by side.

The Warriors to Peace Guardians framework has seen significant successes in Northern Kenya as the community peace guardians report increased collaboration and friendly relations with sections of the community where the programme reached. One of its most effective uses is amplifying the voices of local women who during a Peace Caravan in 2009 said: “We are tired of being widows and losing our sons. Stop the conflict.” A program primarily focused on women Peace Guardians will start soon in Samburu County, and a Rotary Global grant to train the next cadre of Peace Guardians in Laikipia will kick off in early 2019.

A Brighter Future Awaits

A lot still needs to be done, particularly in terms of making peace dividends available to these communities, to sustain the peace. The Kenya team is thrilled about its collaboration with MBBI’s recent partner Rotary International and local partners to soon be launching a livestock improvement program in Laikipia. This program promotes livestock quotas, redistributes grazing areas, and creates a more sustainable lifestyle for the pastoralists.

Juggling between strengthening the work of MBBI’s Kenya Project and her full-time job in Nairobi, Dorina recently co-founded Twasoma, an initiative that taps into the skills and talents of schoolchildren in her home county, as a means of building and sustaining peace and development. She will soon be presenting at a webinar on balanced media reporting in conflict situations.

Article by Ben Lutz, MBBI Writer

Webinar: What is Stakeholder Engagement anyway

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Join us in a conversation on What is Stakeholder Engagement anyway? Isn’t it just talking to people? by Dr. Chris Anderson, Principal, Yirri Global LLC on Thursday, May 23, 2019, at 2 PM ET. In this webinar, we will discuss what some think of as the new ‘holy grail’ in, at least, the natural resource sector: stakeholder engagement. But, what exactly is it, and what is it not? How is it being used in different sectors? We will break it down into constituent parts, look at global good practice while presenting some solid case studies.

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In many companies, stakeholder identification takes place in one dimension and is often done by only one function in a company. The ‘map’ produced (and we will discuss this concept too) is often then put onto a shelf, thereafter to remain. The management part is left to ad hoc processes and various and sundry personnel. Thus, from the beginning, we need to be clear as to what both the ‘stakeholder’ part is and the ‘engagement’. Does the latter just constitute town hall meetings, occasional chats and is it merely a ‘check the box’ exercise? How does it relate to the older concept of ‘consultation’? Where does the fairly new and controversial notion of ‘Free, Prior and Informed Consent’ fit in? Stakeholder engagement is surely a great thing, but companies need to go into it with a clear notion of what it is, how it fits into a broader external and communities plan, who does it.

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Dr. Anderson has worked as a Communities & Social Performance field practitioner and senior executive in the natural resource sector for 20 years, with Rio Tinto, Newmont Mining, and Normandy Mining, in Australia, Indonesia, West Africa, Turkey, Peru, Canada, and the United States. He is an anthropologist and has also worked for some 20 years with and for Indigenous communities on a variety of issues including land claims, Royal Commissions, customary law and similar. In addition, he is a practicing academic, teacher, writer, researcher and consultant with community experience with Indigenous and tribal peoples around the world.

He is a past board member of the Open Contracting Partnership, past chair of the International Council on Mining & Metals Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Working Group, and was Alumnus of the Year in 2013 at the University of Queensland. He is currently a Research Associate at the Colorado School of Mines, an Adjunct Professor in the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland and runs his own consulting company, Yirri Global, based in Denver Colorado. Anderson is also a strategic partner of Acorn International. Recent clients have included Newmont Mining, Newcrest Mining, BHP, Resolution Copper, ExxonMobil and Tyson Foods with work in Mexico, Ghana and the United States.

Please note that the deadline to register for this webinar is one day before the event. We will send the Zoom access link to registrants after the registration closing time and on the day of the event. For further information about this our other webinars, contact us at webinars@mediatorsbeyondborders.org.

Join us and stay updated on MBBI’s news and events. 

Workshop: A CSW63 Workshop on Women and Mediation

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MBBI’s United Nations Multilateral Working Group (UNMWG) is offering an interactive workshop on women, mediation, and the effective implementation of the UN Agenda on Women, Peace, and Security. The workshop will take place on Saturday, March 16th, 2019 11 AM – 2:30 PM during the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63) at the Church Center in New York City. 

This workshop will provide participants with an introduction to mediation, dialogue, and collaboration skills building, and will feature subject matter experts on mediation and facilitation.  It will also feature a moderated discussion of women and mediation in the context of the priority theme. 

The workshop intended for UN Women stakeholders, mission members, CSW63 delegates, and invited MBBI partners and delegates. 

If you would like to make a donation to support the Women in Mediation cohort’s efforts to advance women’s effective participation in decision making, negotiation, and mediation, please do so here.

Register here