Marian Conflict Resolution Centre

YOUTH AS PEACE-MAKERS
TRAINING SEMINAR 4-5 AUGUST, 2014
VENUE: PASTORAL CENTRE SUNYANI

LEADERSHIP, MEDIATION
AND ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCTION

The Youth as Peace-makers Seminar is a short summer programme of the Marian Conflict Resolution Centre for young people and students (age 18-25) to sharpen their skills in leadership and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
It will offer platform for participants to share their personal experiences.

GOALS

Through the Youth as Peace-makers Seminar, young participants will learn

1. Reflect and gain understanding of positive and negative forms of leadership.
2. Assess and improve their own leadership skills.
3. Identify different forms of conflict
4. Understand different approaches to conflict resolution, among which negotiation, mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
5. Learn and practice the basic skills in Alternative Dispute Resolution
6. Identify paths for further development and actions to pursue them

OUTLINE

TOPIC 1. Leadership

• Types of leadership
• Setting, sharing and achieving goals
• Manage time and resources Managing conflicts and handling difficult people
•  Creating and sustaining a positive mental attitude especially during tough times
• Inspiring others and creating a productive atmosphere
• Exploring your own leadership

These topics help shape students’ scope and ideas on leadership and help them to become change agents in their communities. The topics also aim at personal development of the youth to enable them handle personal and community life challenges.
Youth as peace-makers seminar on leadership will equip participants to be leaders who will bear a responsibility that extends beyond leading people and make students true leaders who will be able to bring about change for better in all situations.

TOPIC 2. Conflict resolution

Dispute or conflict is part of human experience, in the small day to day, and on a bigger scale – and need to resolve disputes is always present and is a key part of leadership in our times. Each society has ways of resolving disputes. In a democratic society, there are established norms of resolving conflicts: litigation in public court of law is one of them. Nonetheless, today, there is a growing movement to use other alternatives besides litigation. The generic name for any other legitimate means of conflict resolution is Alternative Dispute Resolution ADR.

There are many ADR processes but prominent among them are:

•  Negotiation, which is basically a formalised procedure by disputants to use communication to resolve their conflict.
• Mediation, which is a process in which a third party helps the disputants to resolve their conflict in a manner that satisfies the parties involved. The mediator acts as a facilitator, an evaluator and a trans-formatter. It is one of the best-known ADR processes.
•  Arbitration, which is a process in which a third party who is neutral renders a binding award having listened and gathered evidence of the issue in dispute. ADR has gained popularity such that its various processes are used for local, national and international disputes.

The seminar will seek to help participants understand that conflict is part of human life, and that there are civilized means of resolving conflicts or disputes such as litigation, negotiation, mediation, arbitration etc. The seminar will emphasise the advantages of ADR. The seminar aims to encourage participants to use ADR and discourage the use of violence as means of dispute resolution.