Peace Skills

Part of the Peace Skills Set, this Manual is designed as atake-home resource to support workshop participants as they returnto their communities and both apply their mediation skills andshare their insights with others. It covers conflict analysis, therole of mediation, the stages of mediation, communication skills,and working with group conflicts and in cross cultural settings.

Acknowledgements xiii Introduction xv Overview of the manual xvii Thoughts About Peace and Transformation xviii Section One: Assumptions about Conflict and the Role of Peacebuilders 1 1 Assumptions about Conflict 3 2 Understanding Conflict and the Role of Mediation 12 Section Two: Introduction to Mediation 23 3 Mediation: A Tool for Empowering Others 25 4 Before Mediation: Laying the Foundation 32 5 The Introduction Stage: Providing Safety 38 6 The Story-Telling Stage: Offering Understanding 43 7 The Problem-Solving Stage: Building Joint Ownership 51 8 Additional Tools for Problem Solving 66 9 The Agreement Stage: Seeking Sustainability 75 10 Moving Toward Reconciliation: Letting Go of the Past 81 Section Three: Communication Skills and Tools 85 11 Listening Skills 87 12 Language in Mediation 94 13 Emotions in Conflict 101 Section Four: Building Peace in Communities 105 14 Designing a Peacebuilding Process 107 Notes 119 Appendix: Additional Reading About Conflict Transformation 123 The Authors 125 About Plowshares 127 About the conflict Transformation program 129 Index 131