MBBI’s International Training Institute (ITI) equips women around the globe with peacebuilding skills to transform their local communities.  Since the first training in Istanbul-Turkey (2013), MBBI has hosted trainings in three additional world regions.  A previous article shares incredible stories of women from the Andean region and the Middle East.  In this part II, women from Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe give further inspiration.

Raihal Fajri – Instilling Truth and Reconciliation

Raihal Fairi, Executive Director of the Kathati Institute, is committed to building peace in Aceh province of Indonesia.  Her home, Aceh, endured a 30-year conflict and a disastrous tsunami.  Now, over 13 years after this dual devastation, Raihal works to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Aceh. 

While the Aceh TRC was being established in 2016, Raihal participated in ITI-Jakarata.  She relished a chance to learn negotiation skills to effectively communicate with government leaders to execute the mandates of the Aceh TRC.  Raihal shares, “I learned strategies of how to be a good negotiator.  Before I just knew how to be a facilitator, but now I know how to be a good negotiator.”

Although Raihal entered ITI seeking negotiation skills, she left with so much more.  Through ITI, Raihal acquired:

• Tools to advocate for victims and women ex-combatants served by the local reintegration agency;
• Leadership and vision to help solve root problems related to the Aceh TRC; and
• Confidence to share her experience with a global audience at a United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

As Indonesia prepares to celebrate 14 years of peace in August 2018, Raihal expresses, “The agreement process is good on the surface, but we still have problems.  Implementation is not finished, and the reintegration process is not smooth.  For combatants, it is difficult to transform.  People know how to struggle, but they don’t yet have the skills to live in peace.”

As Indonesia builds peace and recovery, Raihal remains optimistic – hopeful that an accomplished TRC will help bring healing and reconciliation to Aceh.

Elena Krasilshchik– Building Relationships and Renewal

Elena Krasilshchik is a compassionate Jewish woman a compassionate Jewish woman who serves as a program coordinator with a non-profit organization, Project Kesher.  She has over 30 years of experience teaching youth in Russia.  Since 2006 through Project Kesher programs, Elena has been teaching and coaching Jewish women in leadership development and cultural tolerance.

In 2017, Elena led a group of women from Project Kesher to participate in ITI-Minsk.  She is proud of colleagues who undertook impressive projects because of ITI.  These women have conducted training seminars in the region and popularized mediation in their communities.  They have also taught mediation principles to policemen and created school-based mediation programs in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

For Elena, ITI had a lasting professional and personal influence.  With skills from ITI, Elena:

• Offers mediations to students in schools;
• Hosts mediation workshops with a women’s group in her Jewish community;
• Resolved problematic issues with her relatives, encouraged by the transformative power of mediation, building stronger relationships with her family.

An experience with a dear friend prompted Elena to enter the conflict resolution field.  After years of distress from a personal conflict, her friend developed and passed away from cancer.  Elena recalls poignantly, “It was a great suffering and stress that I learned mediation too late.  I didn’t help her heal from her trauma.”

An opportunity to help people overcome trauma and reconcile with others motivates Elena’s devotion to mediation.  She believes “We must help people, not just in political conflicts, but in our everyday lives.  When you work with people on a grassroots level, there is a hope that you will reach a friendly, safe, and peaceful society.”

Perpetual Gratitude

Both Raihal and Elena express deep gratitude for the MBBI training and concur that such a rare opportunity as ITI must continue and multiply.  Meeting inspiring women and learning from remarkable trainers left a profound impact.  To any woman considering the training, Elena urges:

The women trainers impressed us with deep knowledge of mediation and open hearts.  ITI is an opportunity for a young woman to develop herself and to build good relationships and peaceful surroundings.

Raihal dreams too. She explains:

A chance to be included in this training is so useful.  I hope to conduct a training like ITI in Indonesia for friends in Aceh who cannot speak English. Then many people in my country can receive the knowledge I have now.

Article by Kayla Elson, MBBI Writer. 

By: Fatoumata Fofana Bility, MBBI writer, July 20, 2018.

A global peace advocate has identified dialogue as the most effective approach to peace-building and conflict resolution. Ramon Tena Pera believes resolutions reached through dialogue are “much more sustainable” as it relates to gaining and retaining world peace. He stressed the need for mediation especially considering today’s soaring conflict dynamics; remarking that mediation plays a critical role in preventing disputes from exploding into violent conflicts. It is against this backdrop that he believes mediation is critical to world peace because it is a perfect connector in any conflict situation regardless of experience, context or dynamics. It is effective at fostering peace and harmony at home and at work, he added.

Through dialogue, according to Ramon, emotions, interests, needs and wants are highlighted and acknowledged. This, he said, paves the way for consensus building or exploring possible options for resolution. The bottom line is that mediation has everything to do with the culture of peace; “it is a way of life, a way of communication,” he said.

Ramon did not mince his words when asked why he thinks mediation is preferable to litigation or other forms of negotiation. “Mediation is peace; litigation is war. In mediation, you are seeking peace. In litigation, you go to war,” he said.  Besides, “in litigation or arbitration, there’s a loser and a winner. The winner may still feel like a loser because s/he may not get what s/he truly wanted. So, s/he may win, yet be very displeased or unhappy. Secondly, all solutions that are reached through dialogue are much more sustainable.”

He cited Andorra’s (his homeland) adoption and implementation of a mediation law as a classic example of how and why mediation wins:

The way the mediation law was created was by setting up a group comprising all the stakeholders in the society and advancing [ideas] through consensus. Through dialogue, we discussed the different articles of the law and decided the contents.

For Ramon, this was mediation in action, especially that such high-level public policy was successfully formulated through dialogue and consensus building among multiple stakeholders with competing interests. Andorra’s 2015 mediation law promotes out-of-court dispute resolution through collaboration.

Roadblocks

Meanwhile, as a career mediator, being able to effectively capture lawyers’ attention on the need to give mediation a chance remains a major roadblock stalling the work of most mediators around the world, Ramon further explained. “When lawyers are trained, they have a different perspective of conflict” which makes it “really hard to explain to them what mediation seeks to achieve” he stated.

 Ramon’s ability to transform this challenge into a learning opportunity, however, is worth noting:

The way I overcome this challenge is to never consider lawyers as enemies. This [in itself] is mediation—you need to prove to the other side that you are both colleagues and that the problem is the conflict you are both seeking to resolve. You must cooperate to win.

As such, Ramon tries to not get offended by a lawyer’s attempt to shrug off his proposal for mediation. Ramon remains empathetic, persistent, and persuasive, and that has always “worked for” him.

He therefore admonished his fellow mediators to always exercise patience and empathy in their advocacies. He urged them to always “understand lawyers’ position, their needs, their interests and emotions” and remember that “you cannot promote peace by being aggressive.”

Affiliation with MBBI

Ramon joined MBBI in 2017 and has since remained an active member of the organization. He was attracted to MBBI by the organization’s grassroots strategy to peace-building, describing it as a more realistic approach. “This really inspired me,” he said, in addition to the tools and online resources offered such as the monthly webinars, and the opportunity to connect with other mediators around the world.

Ramon Tena is the director of Dialoga, an organization that is primarily focused on fostering world peace through dialogue. His passion for peace is deeply rooted in the sole desire to help countries or societies emerging from war to bridge new and existing gaps to peacefully coexist. Currently, Dialoga provides mediation, conflict management, leadership, non-violent communication, and active listening trainings to key public entities in Andorra. The organization also provides intra-organizational mediation services such as advocating for better work environment, among many others.

Ramon is also a member of MBBI’s Climate Change Policy Project and has presented through the Child and Youth Alternative Dispute Resolution Working Group (C&Y ADR WG).

He is also fully involved with the Council of Europe, focusing primarily on its Youth Peace Camp project. This project presents Ramon with the opportunity of working with young people and youth organizations from conflict-stricken regions to use dialogue as a conflict transformation tool.

In February 2018, 350 individuals in Sierra Leone were intensively trained by MBBI as peace ambassadors before the national elections.  Inspired by an appeal for even more peace training, the MBBI Sierra Leone Project is now dedicated to empowering women and youth leaders.

Building Unity

Before the 2012 and 2018 general elections, MBBI directly helped prevent election-related violence in four regions.  Loretta Raider (Team Leader, USA), Maureen Inglis (Team Member, Australia) and Karen Boxer (Team Member, USA) co-facilitated peacebuilding workshops with local Sierra Leonian partners who completed the MBBI Train the Trainer Program.

Through “Building Unity for Peaceful Elections” workshops, Sierra Leonians from diverse backgrounds gained practical dialogue and peacebuilding skills.  Interactive activities, such as the “River of Life,” also encouraged political tolerance and appreciation for tribal differences.

Ahmed Morlai  Kamara, a trainer and workshop coordinator in Freetown, reflects: “I discovered a lot of divide in my country, especially by color.  The workshop was a wonderful experience.  As a post-conflict nation, we must be thinking of co-existence.”

Spreading Peace

With passion and resolve, newly-trained peace ambassadors took effective action in their towns –sharing co-existence messages in local markets and promoting peace in their communities.  Many ambassadors spread peace creatively – conducting peace carnivals, leading non-violence campaigns, and even teaching party members about political tolerance.  

As a trainer from Bo, Hannah Fatmata Yambasu confirms: “Each time we do a workshop, it brings us closer to people.  People don’t realize that you can make meaningful contributions.  Each time we have a workshop close to elections, we see positive action.”  She continues, “I saw women actually going out to vote.  I didn’t see any violence, or anyone become worrisome.  I witnessed that in Bo.  The 75 people that we taught were able to disseminate the skill and the message.”

The MBBI Sierra Leone Elections project played a valuable role in two crucial elections.  The 2012 elections marked the first post-war elections without United Nations oversight.  The 2018 elections were the first without a United Nations peacekeeping mission present.  Interventions by beneficiaries of the MBBI workshops contributed immensely to ensuring both elections remained largely peaceful.

Inspiring New Leaders

Bolstered by such success, the request for peacebuilding workshops in Sierra Leone is high.  Local trainers and peace ambassadors agree that more people throughout the country need this training.  Listening to their voices, the MBBI team expanded its vision.  The new “Building Sustainable Peace in Sierra Leone” project aims to develop strong leaders with conflict management skills.  Under its four pillars, the project provides leadership and peacebuilding training to women, youth, and tribal leaders. Under the fourth “train-the-trainer” pillar, the project multiplies conflict transformation principles throughout the country and all levels of society.

Advancing women and youth leaders is especially vital to a sustained peace in Sierra Leone.  Overcoming marginalization, women can become inspirational politicians.  Overcoming unemployment, youth can become exceptional community role models.  The MBBI Leadership project equips women for political office and empowers youth to enhance their communities.  Learn more about the upcoming 2018-2019 Women’s Leadership and Youth Leadership Programs or contact Loretta Raider (loretta@lorettaraider.com).  Consider investing in the women and youth of Sierra Leone by donating as an individual or organization.  Together, we can enable powerful leaders of peace.

Article by Kayla Elson, MBBI Writer.