From the 13th to 17th of January, 15 participants from all over Lebanon, some of them from forumZFD partner organisations, took part in a core mediation course offered by Result Mediation and forumZFD as part of the Capacity Development Programme. Felix Merks, founder of Result Mediation, together with Elsbeth Snieders and Kevin Brown facilitated the five-day course, sharing their experiences as professional mediators and trainers for mediation. The participants coming from various backgrounds are active in the Lebanese civil society and peace building, and are seeking to build their experience in mediation in order to apply this technique in their communities, their daily lives and their teams.
During the five-days intense training, the participants gained a deep understanding of mediation and developed their mediation skills and their attitude as a mediator. The course covered topics such as conflict styles, active listening, legal issues and basic structure of the mediation process. The training was complemented by numerous role plays, in which the participants could directly apply the theory covered in the training. Moreover, individual feedback helped to develop their mediation skills even further. Furthermore, participants got to know Aikido (a Japanese martial art) as a tool to quickly regain inner balance and strength.
After finishing the course, many participants were eager to continue practising mediation and deepen their understanding of this method to resolve or transfer conflicts at different levels. forumZFD is planning a follow-up event in March 2020.
Result Mediation’s approach to social responsibility
Result Mediation believes in the power of constructively dealing with conflict. Therefore, in their “Giving Back” programme, they train participants in post-conflict regions. For each trainee in the Netherlands following a course on mediation with Result Mediation thereby contributes to a free training for a participant in a post-conflict region. Before coming to Lebanon, Result Mediation also offered mediation trainings in Georgia and Myanmar. forumZFD was happy to support Result Mediation in their approach by organising and ensuring the framework for the 5-days training.