• Experts say the increasing trend of illicit financial flows are posing a great threat to Africa’s fragile growth as they pump back more dollars to developed countries than those send to poor African states.
• The Open Society Media Program released background papers earlier this month on Mapping Digital…

• I ask readers interested in peace and conflict to join the Peace and Collaborative Development Network and donate to help keep them alive, if possible. The network is a great place to meet others working in the field, browse job openings, read great blog entries and learn where to find other conflict resources.
• The International Centre on Nonviolent Conflict is…

Progressive changes from conservative Georgia legislators

In the week ahead, surprising reforms in my home state’s criminal justice practices are likely to be introduced in Georgia’s Republican-dominated (conservative) General Assembly. The Sunday issue of my hometown newspaper, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, reported the good news on Page One, below the fold. (“Lawmakers…

This coming Wednesday I am super excited (‘stoked’ in modern parlance) to be co-hosting a Twitter chat for ADR professionals with the dynamic Jeff Thompson (@mediatorjeff on Twitter) from New York City… collaborating, coast to coast.

I’m filling in for regular co-host Jason…

"This is a previously recorded show. This show highlights the conflict in a church community where the religious beliefs of the elder population of the church and the growing LGBT population of the church began to divide the church into two factions. Community mediators worked closely with this community to open the dialogues for a deeper understanding."

Church congregations are not immune to conflict. Beth…

] It is increasingly common for transgender workers to undergo gender transition while keeping their jobs. Not everyone in the workplace adapts easily to this change, however. The Center for Gender Sanity was founded 15 years ago to help organizations manage gender transitions. We have assisted small businesses, Fortune 500 companies, state and local governments, police…

I recently joined NYC Sketchnoters Group, and tonight is our second meeting. Sketchnoting is all about using usual visual images --  drawings, symbols, shapes, icons, color, etc. -- to record ideas and convey meanings.  For visual thinkers, it's a great companion piece to traditional chicken scratch note-taking.  …

We all have ways that we manage conflict that we have learned over time. It is often the case that at least one of our conflict management styles seems to be dominant and reflects the default approach we take under stress. Our way of engaging in conflict of course, depends on the person and what we are experiencing from and about him or her and the situation. Also, the timing, our mood at the time, the impact of the dispute on us and each other and other factors all enter in to determine how…

• The former foreign secretary of the EU Jack Straw announced that the European Parliament should be abolished after failing to achieve its purpose of bridging the divide between the European people and EU. Straw argued that the body has a “major democratic deficit”  as a poll shows 78% believe their voice doesn’t count in the EU.
• Tens of…

• China announced on Friday that it had yet to receive a formal invitation to a meeting of international powers in Tunis next week to discuss the crisis in Syria; the government reportedly blocked a premiere live stream website, Bambuser, that has been used by dissidents to…

Folks, well into the 21st century, our Roma (commonly known as Gypsy) brothers and sisters are still subjected to all kinds of segregation, discrimination, and marginalization worldwide.  Before my New York Peace…

• President Caledron of Mexico reportedly unveiled a large advertising board near the American border calling on the US to stop the flow of weapons into the country on Friday.  On Sunday, a fight between prison inmates inside a jail near Monterrey reportedly killed some 44 people. On…

When we’re in conflict, there are many decisions to be made during and after it is over. Even when we anticipate dissension, there are decisions to make about how to effectively engage in the interaction. Our ability to make any sort of decision about conflictual  matters and the relationship dynamic decrease the more upset we become. For various reasons in the heat of the moment we often seem to think it is necessary to do or say something, rather than taking a ‘time-out’ to decide the…

• President Karzai of Afghanistan confronted the Pakistani leadership on Thursday during a visit to Islamabad, accusing Pakistani officials of harbouring the Taliban; he also was quoted as saying there were secret contacts between the US, Afghan governments and the Taliban, and that the…

If we believe in self-determination, shouldn't we honor our clients' requests for advice?  I mean, they asked for it - they determined themselves that they wanted it?Read the whole article here.

• The West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) has just launched a new book on election management in West Africa.
• The African Union Chairman announced on Saturday he will visit some of the continent’s conflict areas including Sudan, South Sudan, Mali and Libya for…

Peace Core Values…

I teach a course at New York University's Center for Global Affairs called "How to Build Your Own NGO."  My aim is to provide students with practical, nuts and bolts skills they'll use in the non-profit sector, to augment their wingnut and screws theoretical learning. (I wrote more about…