[ [link removed] ]Mercy Corps

Dear friend,

Across the world, communities yearn for peace and security. In northern
Nigeria, disputes, conflicts, and violence have been escalating due to the
effects of climate change and a lack of government authority.

Farmers and herders often argue about growing their crops and managing
flocks of animals on less grazable land. Many women feel unsafe in their
communities to fulfill their basic needs. And law enforcement is often
unable to reach remote rural areas to help keep the peace. To meet these
challenges, Mercy Corps implements negotiation and mediation training for
local leaders in order to resolve disputes.

[ [link removed] ]Learn more about how our approach to peacebuilding through mediation —
and how you might apply some of these solutions to negotiations in your
own life.


[ [link removed] ]Learn more [ [link removed] ]▸


[ [link removed] ][IMG]
Habiba, who has seen the detrimental effects of violence in her community
in Nigeria, has been working with Mercy Corps to implement extensive
training on conflict resolution, tolerance, and peacebuilding. She feels a
sense of internal peace and is happy that she can bring her community
together peacefully.


In our peacebuilding work, Mercy Corps has adopted the Interest-Based
Negotiation and Mediation (IBNM) training. The theory posits that if
people negotiate from their positions — "I want the whole orange," for
example — it becomes a zero-sum game. By negotiating from interests — why
people want the orange — parties can get what they want, which results in
more opportunities for win-win solutions.

Here are three ways Mercy Corps is using these meditation tactics to help
reduce violence in Nigeria and beyond:


  Improving mediation capabilities of local leaders: Local leaders who
receive the training feel they have stronger conflict resolution
  skills, perceive fewer violent events, and feel a greater sense of
security in their communities. In one study, the percentage of
participants who reported experiencing a violent incident fell from
55% to 29% after local leaders completed mediation training.
 
  Combine interventions that stop violence with those that build trust:
Mercy Corps has found that implementing programs that stop violence
  isn’t enough because there are underlying causes of conflict, such as
structural, social, and institutional inequities. Therefore, we’ve
been implementing mediation practices that focus on social cohesion.
 
  Gradual implementation of peacebuilding intervention: Knowing that
achieving peace doesn’t happen overnight, Mercy Corps has been
  implementing work plan sequences for long-term impact. Rather than
conducting all meditation training at once, Mercy Corps hosts training
that addresses stopping violence and later hosts training that
improves social cohesion and builds trust.


Throughout our work in Nigeria, we’ve found that mediation training is a
key component that can have meaningful outcomes for conflict resolution
and peacebuilding worldwide. [ [link removed] ]Learn more about how we put these
mediation approaches into practice — and how you might implement them in
your own life.

Yours in peace and security,

— The Mercy Corps team

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