Conceived by The Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) in 2005, October is observed as the month of Conflict Resolution each year. The third Thursday of October is celebrated as Conflict Resolution Day, which falls on the 15th of October this year.
The goals of the month are to:
- Promote awareness of mediation, arbitration, conciliation, and other creative, peaceful means of resolving conflict;
- Promote the use of conflict resolution in schools, families, businesses, communities, governments, and the legal system;
- Recognize the significant contributions of (peaceful) conflict resolvers;
- Obtain national synergy by having celebrations happen across the country and around the world on the same day.
As part of our special series for the Conflict Resolution Month this October, we are highlighting organizations across the world who are doing great work in the Peacebuilding field. For this week, these are:
Africa: ACCORD
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) is a conflict management non-governmental institution, headquartered in Durban, South Africa. It works throughout Africa to bring creative African solutions to the challenges posed by conflict on the continent. Started in 1992, ACCORD offers services in mediation, negotiation, training activities, research, and conflict analysis in primarily political contexts. In September 2005, ACCORD became the first African NGO in history to address the UN Security Council. The organization runs with a 5-year strategic plan that is available on their website.
Australia: Workplace Conflict Resolution
Workplace Conflict Resolution specializes in conflict management training, bullying and harassment training, grievance investigations, and workplace mediation. Their services are available throughout Australia and the Asia-Pacific region: Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Hobart, and Geelong. A division of Workplace Harmony Solutions, it is one of the few peacebuilding organizations in the country that’s committed specifically to conflict resolution in the workplace context.
Greece: European Institute for Conflict Resolution
The European Institute for Conflict Resolution is a private nonprofit organization housed in Greece. They offer services in mediation and alternative dispute resolution, training, and educational activities in the field of mediation, negotiations, and alternative dispute resolution. These services are usually offered in the context of consumer disputes. Headquartered in Athens, they have a presence across the globe in Cyprus, Nottingham, Oslo and New Delhi.
U.S: Mediators Beyond Borders International
MBBI builds local capacities for peace, advocate for mediation, and provide consultancy for conflict resolution. They have an International Peace Training Institute, offer services in Trauma-Informed Peacebuilding, Capacity Building, and Advocacy Initiatives, Training Active Bystanders, Working Groups (UN SDG, Women in Mediation, Children and Youth ADR). They also have Mediators Beyond Borders (MBB) Consulting under them which offers pro-bono services in conflict management and stakeholder engagement services for companies, communities, organizations, and governments. They have regional groups spread across the world in Los Angeles, Turkey, New York, Canada, Oceania, and Turkey. MBBI was also recently selected for the 2020 International Advocate for Peace Award.
We will be featuring a new set of organizations globally each week, so stay put.
