Facilitation and mediation of disputes involving ethnic differences Borbala Fellegi, PhD. Foresee Research Group Summer University on Mediation and Other Methods to Foster Democratic Dialogue Central European University, Budapest, 8 June 2010 Can community building and community mediation help in a small Hungarian village, where roots of the conflicts are supposed to be the Roma people?

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PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY BUILDING PRINCIPLES OF ADR/RESTORATIVE JUSTICE COMMON PRINCIPLES AS STARTING POINTS All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

(SOME) COMMON PRINCIPLES AS STARTING POINTS: trust, honesty amongst the actors voluntary and active participation - bottom up responsibility taking involvement of an external and impartial professional (mediator, facilitator) into the decision-making empowerment of the parties autonomy: articulation of our own interests and needs ‘widening the circle’: involvement of supporters: widening the internal and external social network and the available resources All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

(SOME) COMMON PRINCIPLES AS STARTING POINTS: (re)building and (re)strengtheing community bonds cooperation and partnerships: thinking. learning, planning and working in a team sustainability – seeking for long term solutions "learning by doing“ cohesion through communication future-orientation All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

Background of the model programme 800 habitants, 20% Roma 3 months and approx EUR by the Ministry of Justice (Crime Prevention Comm.) a team of 10 professionals: mediators, community developers, social workers, film makers, photographer, communication cons. a network of 11 consortium partners led by the Foresee Research Group All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

Roots of the conflicts high crime rates (robberies, thefts, damages) conflicts of how living together peacefully segregation negative stereotypes in the community Romas labelled as "animals", causes of troubles Living in fear, in crime, in scare All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

BUT…. Some people still believe in the future of the village! All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

What did we do? 1. Diagnosis 2. Training series 3. ADR services 4. Community building 5. Evaluation and dissemination All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

What is the actual conflict?

1. Diagnosis - 6 focus groups and 38 interviews about harms, needs, interests, availables resources, common vision Inter-group conflicts (minority, religious, new and old settlers, political, personal) Intra-group conflicts: clashes within the Roma comm. Structural problems: unemployment, poverty, low level of education, migration, ageing Cultural differences (Roma – Swabian) Future of the school: structural and personal issue No use of existing resources Lack of understanding and communication between Roma and non-Roma people FOR WHICH OF THESE CONFLICTS WOULD YOU USE MEDIATION? ARE THESE ROMA-RELATED CONFLICTS AT ALL? All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

Needs of the Roma people: Employment Respectful communication Good schooling Public transport Activities for children, playground Are these special “Roma requests”? All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

DIFFICULTIES IN THE PROGRAMME Passivity of the school Lack of involvement of the local representatives of Roma people the "20-80 rule" – 20% of people do 80% of the work (participation in training, activities etc.) how to handle the overload of these people? how to increase the 20%? how organise all the activities to avoid the overlap of activities? All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

STRENGTHS recognition of the problem opennes to dialogue some committed people common vision for the future trust towards our team All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

2. TRAINING SERIES teambuilding tolerance raising mediation (30hrs) + case generation implementation + mediation protocoll All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

3. ADR: applying mediation and providing consultancy (co-mediation) in certain conflicts POSSIBLE CASES group assault conflicts within the school norms of how living together respectfully thefts, damage of plants, week-end houses vision of the village events where Romas are discriminated from lack and use of community spaces.... All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

Whom to involve? What if only a minority believes in the change?

- The rule - And what if the rule is 5-95? - Start the work with the 5%, try to make it as representative as possible and keep it open to the newcomers. - We as an external team intervening into the community’s life, we need to be trusted and credible. In order to ensure sustainability, once we leave them, local people who are legitimate and trusted persons in the community need to ensure the continuity of the activities started by us. - And finally, let the community decide whom they identify as legitimate representatives.

How to handle the existing power-differences? How to make the different parties believe they can indeed become partners of each other?

- Instead of any particular method or technique, apply any method that generates dialogues and help the empowerment of the weaker parties. - Do it in THEIR speed and rhytm. Can be done quickly but can also take years. For us 3 months was clearly not enough for this. Sometimes you need to deal with groups suffering of some kind of suppression for decades. Such long lasting imbalances cannot be eliminated by one or two mediation occasions. Sometimes just to make parties to sit down might take a year preparatory and empowering work.

IN ANY CASE, TO GAIN REFERRALS TO MEDIATION… TRUST IS A MUST All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

COMMUNITY BUILDING MEDIATION /RESTORATIVE JUSTICE TO GAIN SMILES WE NEED….. TOGETHER…. + All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

4. COMMUNITY BUILDING AND DIALOGUES Empowering local volunteers by involving them into group activities for… strategic discussion on the future of the village children mothers and their babies Roma people helping the information flow amongst local actors and the professionals school supporters playground supporters All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

5. EVALUATION AND DISSEMINATION Film Media news Presentations Follow-up research Articles and studies Networking All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

RESULTS OF THE PROGRAMME 14 trained volunteers 7 certified mediators successful mediation cases implementation protocoll positive impact of the group activities and the dialogue processes satisfaction with the programme even by those who dropped out wide dissemination of the film and the results All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

WHAT ARE STILL QUESTIONS… how to better keep Roma people in the programme? how to empower Romas to participate in community dialogues and feel them believe they are indeed equal partners? All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

WHAT WE ARE CERTAIN ABOUT… non-violent communication voluntary participation regular revision and adaptation of the project based on the local needs long-term sustainability in focus a small group of local people can make a change the main task is to build trust All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

CONCLUSION IN THREE POINTS 1. Trust cannot be achieved solely by social work, or community building, or ADR. 2. These approaches need to be combined so that people gain trust through strengthening their individual security, their integrated position in the community and their constructive conflict resolution methods. All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

CONCLUSION IN THREE POINTS 3. It worth looking beyond conflicts labeled as ‘ethnic-conflicts’ and focus on the real needs. Instead of blaming other groups, maybe there is a general question: how we can respectfully and peacefully live together? All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! For more information, please contact: Dr. Borbala Fellegi Foresee Research Group Our film on the project: All rights reserved. Foresee Research Group 2011.