The 3 C's

Successful and sustainable conflict transformation and peacebuilding require respective knowledge, skills and experience. We have defined three key factors as guidelines for our work:

• Compassionate Impartiality and trust from the conflict parties are crucial for a mediator. Both are based on the ability to empathise with the feelings and needs of all parties involved.  

This relates to the emotional dimension of successful conflict transformation  

• Comprehensive Conflicts are never only about "the issue".  Especially protracted, complex societal conflicts require a deep understanding of the conflict constellations. The following aspects need to be especially considered when working on transforming conflicts:
  
  • Actors: are all the actors, whether the ones directly or indirectly involved as well as those who could act as a spoiler or resource, recognized and involved in the process?
  • Process and Structure: are process and structure connected in a meaningful way and are they meeting the needs of all the parties?  
  • Levels of conflict: are all the levels (intra, micro, meso, mega, meta) taken into account?
  • Dimensions of conflict: are all the dimensions (structural, cultural, individual-psychological and group dynamics) taken into account?
  • Approach: are the appropriate methods, approaches and schools of thought taken into account and applied if need be?

This relates to the cognitive dimension of successful conflict transformation. 

• Creative The complexity of successful conflict transformation requires respective skills and experience of the mediator. Sustainable and transformative work on a conflict is not possible without creative ideas that enable innovative interventions and change beyond the evident.     .

This relates to the skills and experience dimension of successful conflict transformation.