1. Informal Dispute Resolution General Assembly encouraged and institutionalized the use of informal dispute resolution through GA Resolutions and Statute of UN Dispute Tribunal In May, UNRWA launched its own Mediation Programme modeled after the UN’s

2. Area & International Staff Rule 111.1 1.A staff member who considers that his or her contract of employment or terms of appointment have been violated is encouraged to attempt to have the matter resolved informally. 2.Both the staff member and the Commissioner-General may initiate informal resolution including mediation of the issues involved at any time before or after the staff member chooses to pursue the matter formally. 3.The conduct of informal resolution, including mediation, may result in the extension of deadlines applicable to decision review and to the filing of an application with the UNRWA Dispute Tribunal

3. What is Mediation? Mediation is an informal process in which a trained neutral person, known as a Mediator, assists the parties to work toward a resolution of a dispute with the parties themselves remaining in control of the final decision.

4. Mediation at UNRWA 14 staff members have been appointed to the Panel of Mediators, 13 of which have received certification training in workplace mediation The 14 staff members include 7 area and 7 international staff members And consist of 6 men and 7 women Fields and Staff Unions/Associations were consulted in bringing consensus to the membership of the Panel Criteria: highest standards of impartiality, integrity and fairness; and excellent interpersonal, communication, analytical and problem-solving skills

5. mediation@unrwa.org 1.LFO (Area) Ms. Suha Ismail, Deputy Chief Field Health Programme 2.LFO (Int’l)Mr. David Sigurdsson, Operation Support Officer 3.SARFO (Area)Mr. Issa Issa, Budget Officer 4.SARFO (Area)Ms. Basma Qasmieh, Protocol Officer 5.SARFO (Int’l)Mr. Roger Hearn, Director of UNRWA Affairs 6.JFO (Area)Ms. Lubna Abu Wardeh, Field Admin Officer 7.JFO (Int’l)Ms. Elaine Blair, Field Procurement & Logistics Officer 8.GFO (Area)Dr. Ghadda al Jadba, Senior Medical Officer 9.GFO (Int’l)Ms. Cathy Howard, Field Programme Support Officer 10.WBFO (Area)Dr. Hasan Tabkhna, Field Office Performance Officer 11.WBFO (Int’l)Ms. Mahmuda Ali, Operation Support Officer Team Leader 12.HQG (Area)Mr. Majed El-Bayed, Head Staff Cost & Standards Budget Section 13.HQA (Int’l)Ms. Amy Schmidt, Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, RSSD 14.HQA (Int’l)Mr. Kristijan Horvat, Deputy Chief Information Systems Division **external mediator may be appointed in certain cases

6. Features of Mediation Process The mediator is not a decision maker, but acts as a facilitator for the parties to come to an agreement. Mediation is a completely confidential process. Mediation is a consensual process. Any party to the dispute may initiate the informal process at any stage during a dispute. The formal appeals process will be suspended until the mediation process is completed

7. Intranet Visit: http://intranet.unrwa.org/IDRD