Conflict Management Training Manual

Mind the Gap does a lot of capacity-building work in conflict management. This is an extract from the “Contents” and “Introduction” pages of a Conflict Management manual prepared by Scott Jones for conflict management facilitation, training and research in Central America.

Most of the content in this manual has also been field-tested in Africa, the South Pacific, East and SE Asia and Europe. It has been translated into Spanish and other translations are planned.

The manual has nine chapters, each with several sections:

Introduction to the Manual

Wouldn't it be nice if conflicts would just go away? Or would it? How can we tell when conflict is an opportunity and when it is changing into something unhelpful? And how can we manage the negative side of conflict, while we take advantage of opportunities that different perspectives bring?

This manual is designed to accompany our practical, "hands on" conflict management training courses that support the work of NGOs in Guatemala and Belize.

In our workshops, we learned how to analyse conflict and search for positive ways forward with individuals, groups and agencies. We practiced negotiations and how to identify solutions that can be sustainable. We started to link our work with your NGOs’ strategic and project objectives and broader goals of collaboration, community development and partnerships in Guatemala and Belize.

Working with conflict is certainly challenging. But it can be fun and professionally satisfying for people who are interested in working more broadly with community development and economic development.

This manual is best considered as a reference point for the work we have done so far, and as a starting place for the work that is to come. As your experience grows, the manual can be updated to include your own case studies and new learning.

These chapters contain the material we used in the training sessions and some additional material. Much of the material can be used for several purposes. For example, “key skills” are important at all stages of conflict management. Many of the tools for reaching agreements can also be used in conflict analysis or exploring ways of achieving sustainability. Using the manual in a flexible way will help you draw on the ideas and tools you need for different purposes.

The manual assumes that you will be doing several things:

- Building capacity within your NGO, within communities and other agencies.

- Developing your own knowledge, skills and attitudes as time goes on, so that you can bring conflict management into your ‘tool box’ of skills as an effective development worker.

- Facilitating stakeholders in conflict analysis and management (exploring conflict and responding positively to it).

Where do I go now?

You can read the manual from start to finish if you like! But you might prefer to scan through it so you know the contents, and how the manual fits with what you need. It might be helpful first to review ‘Ways of Looking at Conflict and Collaboration’ (Chapter 2). Two other sections may be helpful early on; ‘How we Learn’ and ‘Reflective Practice’ (Chapter 3).

However you use the manual, though, it now moves on to become your manual, which you can develop and change. I do hope you will change and add to it as you and your partners transform problems into opportunities.

Very best wishes

Scott Jones