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Rationale/concept
This funding proposal is based on initial practical data collection done in the form of “reflective practices” with mediators travelling through London: a confidential conversation between a mediator and a group of psychologists and mediation practitioners on challenges and opportunities of the process the mediator is working on (or has worked on in the past). Since November 2018, three of these conversations have taken place at the Swiss Embassy in London, with Mr Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the UN and Chair of the Burundi Configuration of the UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), with Mr Staffan de Mistura, former UN Special Envoy for Syria and with Ms Betty Bigombe, mediation practitioner and expert in conflict resolution in Africa.
All these discussions led us to conclude that the psychological aspect is a crucial element which is missing in peace negotiation processes and therefore deserves deeper analysis[1].
Our project seeks to make explicit the psychological component of existing approaches and, in particular, to bring insights into the state of mind of the participants in the mediation encounters. Although the scope of this pilot is primarily to identify, map out and conceptualize the psychological components of turning points, blockages and breakthroughs in mediation, the long term aim of the project is to identify key psychological concepts, strategies and techniques, with the objective, inter-alias, to develop a psychological ‘tool-kit’/practical guidance and provide recommendations and trainings to better equip mediation practitioners.
The way mediation in highly escalated, violent conflicts is framed, theorized and taught today often disregards the crucial psychological aspects and does not engage with the state of mind of the parties to the mediation process. Along this ignorance, gender-relevant aspects of conflict resolution processes are equally overlooked[2]. A psychological approach is sometimes practiced intuitively, but such psychological interventions have not been made explicit, properly studied and their importance has not been recognized. We believe that there is a need for more in-depth education on this approach, and that a full appreciation and conceptualization of psychological tools and interventions could make an important contribution to the practice of mediation.
Because the project’s primary aim is to inform mediation practices, the research assistant will be assisted by a Steering Committee composed of practitioners engaged in mediation processes – such as HSD’s strategic partner Conciliation Resources - who will have an input on compiling a preliminary interview protocol (see below), the development of the project, and ensuring that the outputs are ‘practitioner-friendly’.
The conversations (“reflective practices”) with mediators at the Swiss Embassy will continue and focus more strongly on the mediator – as opposed to on the parties to the conflict - and explore how the mediator can be supported psychologically to help him/her be more effective. The research assistant will also be present in those meetings.
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