Managing conservation conflicts through professional multiparty mediation

​About

​This course will provide all participants with insights into the specific contexts and situations of conservation conflicts and how multiparty mediation can help to address them. We have developed a concept of intercultural and co-designed training , where the trainers bring a range of conservation conflict management experiences and tools from different regions and cultures around the world. As each conflict scenario is unique and context-dependent (culture, political setting, ecological variation etc.), strategies for multiparty mediation need to be adapted to meet the needs of the users.

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This will be done through a stepwise co-design process, involving the collective wisdom of the group. Prior to the training workshop, a questionnaire will be distributed to the participants to understand the users' needs and to gather key insights. The trainers will use the information gathered to decide on the most suitable concepts and methods, which will be discussed and practiced in an interactive way among the participants. So, the training will create unique learning experiences tailored to and by the participants themselves. By the end of the course, participants have acquired competences and skills to consider relevant findings and experienced methods of the course and implement them in their daily work.

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Benefits of the course

Participants will gain knowledge about:

• analyzing conflict scenarios in the field of conservation regarding their escalation and complexity

• understanding social and conflict-related dynamics in multistakeholder settings in conservation

• developing process design for multiparty mediation

• using a broad variety of helpful methods (eg perspective change, de-escalation methods, non-violent communication, active listening, interest-based dialogue, systematic multistakeholder approaches, etc.) in multiparty mediation settings

 

Methods

A high diversity of and diverting teaching methods : exercises with sample cases from participants' personal experiences, real-life simulations and exercises with cases from the trainers' practical experiences, input presentations and discussions, self-reflection, group exercises on analyzing (eg initial situation, stakeholder analysis) and diagnosing (eg conflict escalation and dynamics), role plays, etc.

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Topics

• Theory of mediation of multi-interest and multi-party conflicts in nature conservation

• Exercises in communication techniques for multi-party mediation

• Conception of participation procedures and multi-party mediation

• Training of skills for multi-party mediation in role-playing

• Dealing with emotions and escalation in multi-stakeholder settings

• Finding understanding and consensus in groups

• Experiencing various tools eg moderation of roundtables and conflict analysis

• Peer exchange, peer learning and joint reflection on case studies (from participants and trainers)

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​​Target group

1) People working in conservation who want to gain a deeper insight into what mediation in the conservation sector can look like, what techniques are used and when mediation can be useful

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2) People who are interested in working with mediation in the future and would like to get insights in mediation in the conservation sector

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3) Mediation professionals with previous professional training or certification in mediation in any other sectors (eg civic, family, commercial, public, environmental) who wish to work in the conservation sector

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Further information

Registration deadline: to be confirmed

​Number of participants: 10-15 people

Cost: 1350 Euros

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