Mediators as Peacebuilders – the Mediators Beyond Borders Experience

Presented by, Gail Ervin and Prabha Sankaranarayan

In collaboration with the

International Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR)

Mediators as Peacebuilders – the Mediators Beyond Borders Experience from The Werner Institute on Vimeo.

Ken Cloke and a small group of colleagues founded Mediators Beyond Borders with the idea that mediators volunteering their skills around the world could enable a more ‘peace able ‘ world.  Nine years and 12 projects later, there are many lessons that mediators working on projects around the world have gathered.  MBB has accumulated a trove of insights, policies and practices for working cross-culturally, and this webinar will share a subset identified as most relevant for ACR members.  Using case studies from Liberia, Sierra Leone & Kenya the presenters will highlight how a range of processes may be applied in communities both at home and afar to prevent conflict and support the peaceful integration of diverse populations.  The presenters will discuss what it is to bridge from being mediators to peacebuilders through elicitive practice, using trauma informed principles, appreciative inquiry and mediation techniques to transform local capacities for peace in a range of contexts, from government institutions and universities, among tribal leaders and citizens, and in the practice of civil society organizations, to our practices at home.

Presenters:

Gail Ervin is Principal of the Ervin Consulting Group and is Co-Team Leader for the Mediators Beyond Borders Kenya Initiative. Gail has 30 years experience in environmental planning, environmental and public policy mediation, and community capacity building. She is past Chair of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) International Section, past U.S. Representative to the World Mediation Forum Steering Committee, and a Rotary Peace Fellow. She developed and manages the LinkedIn International Conflict Resolution Network Portal Group, and has been involved in conflict resolution capacity building efforts on five continents. Gail is just completing her doctorate in Human Science/Transformative Social Change Specialization at Saybrook University in San Francisco, California, USA, with a focus in International Peace and Conflict Resolution. She travels regularly to Kenya to monitor the Warriors to Peace Guardians Initiative, a project funded by the US Institute of Peace that was developed during her recent dissertation research on pastoralist peacebuilding in Kenya.

Prabha Sankaranarayan is the President and CEO of Mediators Beyond Borders, (http://mediatorsbeyondborders.org/) an international non-governmental organization whose mission is to build local skills for peace and promote mediation worldwide.

She is a conflict transformation practitioner who has mediated, facilitated and trained in Europe, Asia, Africa and the USA. Her public and private sector work includes conflict analysis for public/private partnerships, consultation & assessment for industrial development zones, design and implementation of trainings for multinational corporations; inter faith dialogues as well as facilitation of multi-stakeholder mediations.

Prabha is actively involved in regional, national and international civic activities focused on civil liberties, sexual violence prevention, conflict mitigation & mediation and the recovery & rehabilitation of trauma survivors. She is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh. She trains and delivers presentations (nationally and internationally) on the impact of family and community violence, the intersection of trauma and peacebuilding, restorative justice, conflict resolution, mediation and transitional justice.