The Association for Conflict Resolution held its annual conference this fall in Tucson, Arizona. “Heal the Divide: A Focus on the Role of ADR Practitioners in a Divided Society” was attended by MBBI members and conflict transformation practitioners throughout the country to encourage a productive exchange of ideas centered on the peacebuilding role of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in a polarized society. Duncan Autrey, along with MBBI leaders, Jessica Baen, Kenneth Cloke, Jarling Ho, Mary Leichliter, Scott Martin, and Wendy Wood, hosted a panel during the conference to discuss their most recent collaboration; the “Democracy, Politics, and Conflict Engagement Initiative” (D-PACE).

D-PACE is a volunteer-based platform for developing conflict literacy and capacity for interest-based communication in political movements and advocacy organizations. Through the dissemination of a ‘Conflict Literacy Toolkit,’ which is composed of various modules for managing conflict in these groups, their mission is to promote more creative and constructive approaches to conflict and to, effectively, strengthen democracy for a more just society. 

“We all win or we all lose.”

This is a guiding principle for Duncan who, for nearly a decade, has been involved with MBBI, demonstrating his commitment to the design of systems that encourage democratic communication among companies, communities, and governments. Based in Oakland, California, he brings 15 years of experience as a facilitator and conflict resolution specialist to his role with D-PACE. Duncan’s perspective on today’s political climate is that “The pervasive win-lose paradigm is highly destructive,” and conflict transformation practitioners are uniquely positioned to help heal this divide. He described, ” “We have identified a sincere need for conflict resolution capacity-building and literacy both within and among political groups and social movements.” 

Further, “Our goal is not simply to increase civility but to explore our differences without losing touch with our common humanity,” Duncan noted. The D-PACE toolkit is meant to help channel the emotional underpinnings of political passion into effective discussions and concrete problem-solving.

The ‘Conflict Literacy Toolkit’

During the ADR conference, the D-PACE team presented detailed examples of their Toolkit, which comprises twenty distinct modules that can be navigated using a ‘Conflict Decision Tree.’ Circle Processes, Trauma-Informed Skill-Building, Sources of Political and Social Conflict, and Collaborative Negotiation were among the major topics addressed. Duncan explained that every aspect of the toolkit was founded on the belief that, “Conflict looks the same no matter what size it is.” Put another way, conflicts that arise between two people, ten people, entire communities, states, parties, or nations, may be addressed under a singular framework (or toolkit) involving basic mediation practices and interest-based solutions.

To demonstrate this process during their presentation, the D-PACE team split audience members into small groups and facilitated dialogues on numerous issues. Highlighting the diverse experiences and perspectives in the room, the result was shared learning and excitement about the application of ADR methodologies to help political movements and advocacy organizations work through disputes and achieve their missions. “We have created the ‘Conflict Literacy Toolkit’ to engage a broad array of organizational leaders and to bring these skills to the forefront of democracy and politics,” Duncan said.

The toolkit offers many avenues for managing political conflict “… in ways that are nuances, interest-based and omnipartial.” Other modules in the toolkit place a focus on learning how to engage mindfully and manage chronic conflict as well as skills for consensus-building, managing polarity, and mediation for internal and external multi-party disputes.

The Current Need

The democratic political system was created in order to manage shared decisions, resolve conflicts, and uphold the best interests of the people within an inherently divided society. The D-PACE initiative was established on the same premise. Duncan explained, “Government is already a conflict resolution-based system. We are trying to upgrade that system by focusing on the quality of our interactions, understanding what motivates us, and creating spaces for dialogue across these divides.” This is the only way to address the serious challenges ahead.

D-PACE leadership is actively seeking passionate and skilled volunteers to offer support. MBBI members and other interested practitioners are encouraged to visit: www.dpacevolunteer.org For information about volunteering. For more information about D-PACE visit: https://mediatorsbeyondborders.org/what-we-do/projects/dpace/

Article by Juliana Heffern, MBBI Writer

Eunice Salton has thrived on linking various constituencies and facilitating projects to mutually successful outcomes. She is a champion of bridging connections between government, corporate and civil organizations and as a conflict resolution consultant, has fused her business acumen with her commitment to community service. Leveraging extensive experience, she advises groups needing assistance in conflict resolution and moving past their positions to reach mutual understanding, respect, and solutions. 

“The mediation process encourages and empowers participants to experience productive exchanges and explore creative options for resolution and implementing down to earth plans that can drive cultural change and new opportunities … and quite often partnerships.”  

Liaising Internationally through MBBI

As a New Yorker, Eunice is used to the microcosm of cultures and peoples in her city. This feeling is further amplified by her living abroad for several years and at present, in her role as the MBBI United Nations Liaison. Eunice attends as many UN sessions as possible. This allows her to learn the process and current nature of UN negotiations, foster partnerships, participate in events as well as connecting to ambassadors, country representatives, and a variety of private sector and UN officials.  And perhaps most important of all – interact with the people from local communities and grassroots movements worldwide.

“It is so humbling to meet and talk with the people who come here to the United Nations, often at their own peril and costs, to request assistance in making the lives in their countries more peaceful and economically sustainable.”

Additionally, in her role at the United Nations, Eunice is part of the United Nations Multilateral Working Group (UNMWG) and with the team, participates in the MBBI activities that include annual meetings such as the Commission on the Status of Women, High-Level Political Forum and General Assembly.  The team is multidisciplinary and its focus is rooted in an inclusive design thinking approach on sustainable peacebuilding processes supporting MBBI’s objectives such as capacity building, promoting mediation through advocacy and delivering consultancy services worldwide.

Community Initiatives

Eunice is an active member of her community. She began her mediation career as a student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. This led her to work with the New York courts on family, youth, and community disputes as a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution – Greater New York Chapter (ACR GNY), where she served on the board. She is also an avid advocate of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Inclusion Network.

Eunice is a trained, certified and qualified mediator, arbitrator and conflict coach in New York State civil, surrogate and municipal courts. Furthermore, she is most involved in her community with the Community Dispute Resolution Centers (CDRC), which provide mediation, arbitration and other dispute resolution options as an alternative to court. Every year, CDRCs help thousands of New Yorkers in all five boroughs resolve a wide range of disputes. Eunice, through the CDRCs, provides conflict coaching and mediation for elder care, youth-based mediation, housing and restorative justice. She also mediates for the New York Federal Executive Board Shared Neutrals Program, arbitrates for the State of New York, Part 137, Attorney-Client Fee Dispute Resolution Program and in New Jersey, mediates at municipal courts and community centers. “The most important skill for a mediator is listening. Successful mediation and mediation processes necessitate active and full listening for promoting an environment of trust and safety. It’s about being heard, understanding another’s perspective and developing empathy.” 

In this vein, she also participated as an accomplished facilitator in the U.S. Department of Justice, Community Relations Service program, “Community Dialogue: Conducting a Discussion on Race” within the 32^nd police precinct in Harlem, New York. This is a collaborative project between the Department of Justice (DOJ), the New York Police Department (NYPD), the Association of Conflict Resolution Greater New York (ACR GNY), The Harlem Community Justice Center (HCJC) and additional community groups.  

National Engagements

In New Jersey, she was appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to the District Ethics Committee for Middlesex County. Eunice was also appointed by the Middlesex County, New Jersey Assignment Judge to serve on the New Jersey Child Placement Advisory Council (NJ CPAC), a statewide board, which has oversight of children in foster care.  She serves as Vice-Chair and Chair of the Legislative and Program Committees.  In addition, Eunice is a member of the National Council for Graywolf Press in Minneapolis, MN; is a member of the Women’s Forum of New York, where she serves on the Education Fund Advisory Board; and is a member and past director of the Financial Women’s Association of New York.

Eunice also maintains a practice as a business development consultant and her background includes executive positions at the financial publishing imprint, The New York Institute of Finance at Simon & Schuster, a Division of VIACOM; Cavillo, Schevack & Partners advertising agency; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; and Plays for Living a nonprofit training and theater company. She holds an EdS from Florida Atlantic University, an MS from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BA from William Paterson University.

Article by Benjamin Lutz, MBBI Communications and Operations Manager

Esma Deniz is a Logistics Manager at Mavitec B.V. in Bursa, Turkey, where she manages the freight forwarders, subcontracts, operations for importing and exporting and analyzes and coordinates supply chain. She was introduced to the field of logistics during her Bachelor of Business Administration at Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi in Turkey, by one of her professors who spoke back then, at length about the logistics sector and how it would become a star sector in a few years. The choice was clear.

Deniz became involved with MBBI after receiving a scholarship from Negotiators Society organized by Deniz Kite Güner, founder of Global Mediators and Negotiators (GMN). Esma Deniz was introduced to the MBBI-Turkey Chapter after her negotiation training by GMN & Negotiators Society. There are approximately 20 members in MBBI-Turkey Chapter. Some members are mediators and some members are joining the Chapter after the negotiation training GMN delivers in cooperation with Negotiators Society UK and Acıbadem University.

Negotiation Between Companies

For the last two years, she has been working as an expert for local courts on logistics, international trade cases. In the court, judges are not always familiar with the logistics sector and call upon Deniz to examine files and write reports to present to the judges. She has learned a lot from these cases and gained experience on how to handle situations that may create conflict in the future for the company and negotiate accordingly on her own business. “It’s a valuable experience (and huge data) when you know the law and you know what someone did before and the consequences of their actions that created the conflict.”

Deniz completed her masters in Logistics and Operation at Middlesex University in Dubai where she wrote her dissertation on the effects of 3D printing on the global logistics industry after interviewing staff from various private commercial companies like Boeing, as well as military logistics personnel who were related to the subject. While in Dubai, she worked for TWIPV as a buyer and later as lead logistics coordinator, where she organized, coordinated, and expedited humanitarian and military projects from various locations to the camps in West and North Africa, Afghanistan, and Iraq. She is also a member of the Humanitarian Logistics Association where members provide counsel on logistics for the health, humanitarian, and military sectors.

Most negotiations in Turkey happen at the international level and many people still think that negotiation is solely for peacebuilding. She explains that “To put it this way, everyone wants to win. No one wants to give in on anything.” Larger corporations are familiar with the concept “But not in small or midlevel companies. Everything goes to court. The critical piece that people do not consider is that people get entrenched in a position about rightness and what they are advocating for. If they think they are right … they want the other side to pay for it all, and it becomes a pattern they follow for every case. However, if you always drag every case to a court as a company, eventually you will end up with reduced resources and no one to collaborate with.”

Supply Chain Negotiation

Recently, she attended a congress on supply chains and logistics with guests from University of Maryland, USA. Some of the topics covered were security and logistics, industry for 4.0, and humanitarian logistics. Logistics has become part of her “I realized at that congress, that when someone is saying logistics, I feel like they are calling my name and it always feels good to be with people from the sector to share our experiences and knowledge.” She is still deep inside logistics and fervently interested in technological developments, especially how it will affect the sector and the workforce in the future. “One cannot imagine how many companies are having problems every day…the supply chain is a whole complicated process and can be a breeding ground for conflict. There are so many sectors, so many people, so many countries, customs, authorities, and vendors all deeply involved. The complexity of networks are increasing with all these technological developments. You must have a point where you watch all these things from a bigger perspective so that if a conflict arises, you can see it coming. Or when it happens, you are able to solve the conflict effectively. Negotiation is definitely needed so we can build sustainable relations instead of competing to destroy each other.” 

Apart from her other roles, Deniz is a PhD student in Business Administration examining what future holds for logistics sector at Uludag Üniversitesi and she is a visiting lecturer of Technology and Logistics in Bursa Technical University. In the near future she is considering starting a consulting firm focusing on negotiations between companies. 

Article by Kylea Shropshire, MBBI Writer

Mina Vaish has been a fulltime mediator practitioner for almost 15 years and started her own mediation practice in 2006. Her company, York Mediation, where she is the Managing Director, is based in Richmond Hill, Canada, and includes a team of five mediators who mediate family, civil, workplace and commercial cases. She is also an onsite mediator at three Superior Courts of Justice and Ontario Court of Justices in the Greater Toronto Area.

Canadian Blocks of Peace

She readily stated that “I honestly think that mediation and peacebuilding are in my blood. It feels natural to me, I think it is because where I come from and my ancestry.” She expressed that being from the peaceful nation of Canada, there is a historical influence founded on the principles of Lester B. Pearson which has set the path for the country and which was conducive to her path as a mediator. “Fundamentally, we are supported in Canada by positive peacebuilding blocks. Human rights protection, gender equality, social structure, and the rule of law.”

Mina came with her parents from India – a country that struggles with deep-rooted religious and social conflict but also has democratic roots and values – to Canada when she was 10 months old. Culturally, her family always had an eye towards Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of nonviolence and to this day resonates strongly with her. She began mediation training in 2004 and started practicing under the supervision of a practicing mediator. Shortly after, she started to investigate different avenues to develop her mediation capability. Mina is completing her Masters of Law (LL.M)at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University where she specialized in dispute resolution. She also serves as an occasional Osgoode Hall Law Faculty Member in the Professional Development Program.

Peacebuilding at the International Level

Forthwith, Mina is focusing 50% of her time on international endeavors, shifting from her core business of local and national mediation to the international realm. Peacebuilding is a natural trajectory for her, and she believes that there is a lot of potential around collaborative processes. “The true value of mediation, national dialogue, and collaborative and processes hasn’t yet been realized on a global scale.” There is more to be done when looking at positive peace indicators and the linkages to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as the eradication of poverty, rule of law, gender equality, and human rights, etc.

She urges the incorporation of peace indicators that revolve around a national strategic directive on how much time and investment countries devote to mediation, collaborative process, and dialogue in order to rank them at an international level. “Evolution of our global society must move towards understanding where we want to be in 100 years and even 1000 years from now.” To achieve this, Mina is currently developing the MBBI Canada chapter and hoping it will develop into more skills and competencies for Canadian mediators to be deployed in the future. Her current goal is to continue finding ways of working in peacebuilding at the international level to create a more peaceful world.

Gender Equality at the CSW

From her mentor, the late Vicki Isler, Mina became involved in the MBBI UN Working Group and soon moved into the Women in Mediation Action Group, which she now serves as Chair. The group works on the integration of women in peace processes and one of its main focuses is MBBI’s delegation to UN Women’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The Working Group has attended every CSW over the last six years of which she has led the delegation for the last four years. The 2019 delegation was the largest, with thirty MBBI members in attendance.

On March 16, 2019, the Working Group offered the first interactive workshop on women, mediation, and the effective implementation of the UN Agenda on Women, Peace, and Security. The written statement submitted is now an official document that was posted and accepted by UN Women. She proudly declared that all genders are on the working group and that part of the purpose is that they don’t exclude anyone “It is about equal opportunity. It was founded on the fact that history often excludes and/or mutes womens’ voices during peace processes.” 

The raison d’être for the group is in reference to the SDG 5 – Gender Equality. She calls gender equality a driving force bringing women to the negotiation table, especially in countries where they are marginalized and/or ostracized from peace processes. Mina continued to explain that her work and that of the group are all based on UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which is the resolution to bring more women to negotiation and peacebuilding circles. The group’s premise is around talking about self-determination especially when discussing issues that are women-centric.

When talking about “Reproductive rights, social income, childcare, maternity, women’s issues… when they are not at the negotiation table it seems absurd, there is no stakeholder investment. Sustainable peace and peacebuilding must involve the people who are actually experiencing it. We often view things through our own experience or conceptual lens, that is why it is so important in decision making and negotiation processes to include every voice.” 

Article by Kylea Shropshire, MBBI Writer

Patient care, domestic and international healthcare policy, human rights, and conflict management are a few of the areas that have defined Donald Mellman’s ever-evolving career. As a neurosurgeon who worked at the helm of a busy private practice for 26 years, Don now cares for the indigent and offers expert witness services for medical-legal issues across the country. He is also a qualified arbitrator and a Florida Supreme Court certified mediator who consults internationally with NGO leaders and other practitioners on leadership, neurosurgical matters, and healthcare challenges. Most of his work in the last decade has been focused on the Middle East where he cares for patients in conflict zones and occasionally mediates healthcare disputes.

Career Iterations

Don began working as a neurosurgeon in 1974. “Having the ability to save lives has been the most rewarding part of my career,” However, by 2000, he had also developed an interest in engaging with the broader dynamics of healthcare policy and patient safety. He explained, “I decided that I was ready for a new challenge.” After earning his MBA from The University of South Florida and an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health, Don completed advanced training in international conflict management in Pisa, Italy, which gave him the skills and confidence to launch a new iteration of his career.

Don transitioned into the role of Chief Medical Officer for a busy teaching hospital in Colorado and, later, for another in California. These positions provided him with a practical awareness of the crucial role that a mediator may serve within hospital leadership. To advocate for patient care and address the systemic problems he observed, Don said, “I had to mediate and negotiate at all levels.” 

Closely aligned with this work, Don became involved with Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) in 2008 as a co-founder of PSR Tampa Bay and as a member of the national board. PSR is the largest physician-led organization in the United States with the mission “… to create a healthy, just, and peaceful world for both present and future generations.” Don explained that issues, such as the threat of nuclear proliferation and climate change are among the important topics this organization confronts through program development and advocacy. As a representative for International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Don was a member of the United Nations’s civil society for an illegal arms trade-related treaty. Notably, he explained that negotiation and mediation tactics were crucial to the UN’s approach to this issue and, eventually, led to the treaty being ratified. 

An Argument for ‘Jaw-Jaw’

Winston Churchill elegantly declared, “To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.”

Churchill’s notion is one that Don described as poignantly representative of his perspective on communication versus hostility, after being given an opportunity to travel to conflict regions in Israel and Gaza in 2009.  Don has returned to this region almost every year for the last ten years to support NGOs and physicians dedicated to alleviating the human rights and public health crisis within the Gaza Strip. “I have tried to read and study as much as I can about the history of the Middle East and how its conflicts have evolved up to present-day.” Don has also lectured about his engagements and published several articles, including, “The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organization Network: Mediating in the Midst of Conflict.” Don is interested in how the concept of  ‘effective behavior’ within human relationships and basic interactions may be applied to the state-level analysis, particularly in the context of addressing major conflict dynamics.

Future Involvement with MBBI

Don spoke with excitement about his future involvement with MBBI. After being introduced to the organization by former MBBI President and a long-time friend, Lynn Cole, Don has attended several MBBI webinars and is inspired by the diverse cohort of conflict transformation professionals. He hopes to develop a greater presence in mentoring physician and executive leadership on mediation best-practices. However, he is always open to exploring new avenues and taking on challenges in healthcare and issues of social and economic justice. He stated in closing, “I am a globalist who cares about people and their interaction. Combat is never progress; understanding how to get people to work together is what mediation is about.” 

Article by Juliana Heffern, MBBI Writer