Mediation - principles and ethics Dr Pascal da Rocha, UN Women

Objectives Understanding of mediation principles Appreciation of dispute resolution tools Awareness of mediation issues

Pedagogy 7 working groups with 5 people each Resource people will serve as observers and assistance Within the groups, discuss and brainstorm freely Each group has one leader, one presenter and one time-keeper Please keep the time to ease discussions Pin your results on flip chart for knowledge sharing Each exercise will end with debriefs and question time

What is mediation? under the invitation of the parties to a conflict parties accept the intervention of the third party appropriate when the parties have an uneven power balance when the parties want to reach a joint agreement parties desire to resolve the dispute is high parties have the ability to reward or harm each other Some external pressure to resolve dispute verbal, interactive process

Why mediate? Parties have greater control of agreement Personal empowerment for all parties Preservation of ongoing relationship Termination of relationship amicably Workable and implementable timelines and decisions Agreements and decisions are not mere compromises, they hold over time.

Exercise Split into groups of 5 Agree on team leader, presenter and time keeper Task: discuss and share a definition of mediation Write your definition of mediation onto flipchart paper 12 mins in total

Definition Mediation is the intervention into a dispute or negotiation by an acceptable, impartial and neutral third party who has no authoritative decision making power. This person assists contending parties to voluntarily reach their own mutually acceptable agreement.

Exercise There are 4 other conflict management methods: negotiation, conciliation, arbitration, litigation Work in groups and discuss what defines these methods and what distinguishes them from mediation Once you have discussed 4 methods, kindly attempt to find a definition for each alternative dispute resolution method 15 mins max and then report back in the plenary

Mediation vs ? Negotiation: solution to a specific issue in the form of a compromise Conciliation: conflict management with specific results (from Latin: conciliate - to unify) Arbitration/litigation: judgement and authority over a particular issue deferred to a decision-making body Mediation: consensual mode of conflict regulation with the sole aim to open new channels of communication

Role of a mediator? The opener of communication channels The convener The legitimizer The process facilitator The trainer The resource expander The problem explorer The agent of reality The scapegoat The leader

Principles & Ethics Voluntary & consensual Confidential & principled Power & bias (impartiality and neutrality)

Summary

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