MBBI Partnership with NAMU: Press Release

MBBI is honored to partner with the National Association of Mediators of Ukraine (NAMU) in serving the mediation community and ultimately the population impacted by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

More than 300 million people now live amidst violent insecurity around the world. The conflict in Ukraine has tragically contributed significantly to these numbers. More visible perhaps, the number of people forcibly displaced because of conflict or persecution exceeded 100 million by the end of 2021 – the highest number since World War II. 

Over the last decade, there has been increasing recognition that the fields of conflict resolution, peace building and trauma studies are interconnected.   Leading experts assert that the role of trauma must be integrated into conflict resolution applications as well as in the education of practitioners.  The current reality is, programs that truly integrate the fields are rare. 

The mediators in Ukraine however, recognizing the importance of enhancing their skills as they continue to provide services for individuals, families and communities in and outside Ukraine, are taking bold action.  As Kateryna Narovska, CEO of NAMU notes  “Recognizing that being aware of trauma impact is a critical component of professional activity for mediators and facilitators in conflict resolution and transformation and efforts, we are addressing this need in the partnership with MBBI.”

 “The AAA-ICDR Foundation is honored to support Mediators Beyond Borders International’s partnership with the National Association of Mediators of Ukraine,” said India Johnson, President and CEO of the AAA-ICDR, who was recently named Chair of the AAA-ICDR Foundation. “When thinking about how we as a Foundation could fund a conflict resolution project to help Ukraine, Mediators Beyond Borders International was one of our first calls.  The project MBBI proposed, to partner with NAMU in integrating the role of trauma into conflict resolution shows how conflict resolution can truly rise to its promise of building sustainable peace.” 

Mediators Beyond Borders International believes that reconstruction and peacebuilding must integrate Trauma Informed Principles in order to build sustainable peace. “We know this well at MBBI, from our partners at every level – from the grassroots organizations to the high level mediators. When an entire generation in any community or country has lived solely in survival mode, with protracted exposure to violence, there are deep wounds not only to individuals but to the very systems that can support their recovery” said Prabha Sankaranarayan, President and CEO of MBBI.  Particularly where whole communities experience trauma, the symptoms remain until they are integrated into life and collective memory. 

NAMU and MBBI are working together to prevent exactly this by building the capacity that Ukraine needs in its critical human infrastructure for peace. 

We are enormously grateful for the  support of the AAA- ICDR Foundation which stepped forward with a rapid response grant, and USAID for their timely translation support.