Conflict Resolution in Ethiopia

We are Alex and Andrea from the International Mediators Campus. This is a worldwide training to become a mediator and thus make a social contribution to peaceful conflict resolution.

This urgent appeal for donations is about a peacebuilding project in Ethiopia.

The goal is to train 200 mediators who will be able to peacefully settle disputed cases in the areas of family, workplace and petty crimes as early as winter 2021.

What is special about mediation is that it strengthens the parties in finding their own peaceful and joint solutions. Settlements reached through mediation are stable and fair because both parties are involved in finding a solution.

Why this is important for Ethiopia: The courts are overburdened and many escalated conflicts that are very stressful for people cannot be dealt with. That's why Ethiopia has partnered with the EU Commission and the UN to develop a program that gives people access to alternative dispute resolution. This alternative conflict resolution is to be carried out by mediators. They help the parties involved to resolve their conflicts in a self-determined and consensual manner.

The mediators are appointed by the court and are free of charge for the parties.

It has already been shown in other countries that introducing mediation into a country's judicial system helps stabilize peace and improve constructive social dialogue.

Since mediation has not been practiced in Ethiopia to date, no training courses exist locally.

The Supreme Court in Ethiopia approached us with the request to conduct a 40 hour internationally certified training for the participants.

Why us? We train mediators from all over the world, are internationally certified by IMI (International Mediation Institute) have a team of lecturers from all over the world and follow a strict philosophy of providing access to our training to all people regardless of the purchasing power of the country. IM Campus has already implemented several projects to establish mediation in different countries.

Why do we need support? The purchasing power in Ethiopia is about 2% of the German purchasing power. This means that if a 40 hour international training to become a certified mediator costs 1500 € per person, this would be the equivalent of 75.000 € for Ethiopians, or the other way round, they would pay 35 € and would have achieved an equivalent value, which would be 1500 € in Germany. Since we have an international team of trainers that we have to pay, (the trainers already meet the conditions) we are collecting donations to make the project possible.

In this call for donations we want to finance the training for the first 20 mediators. It is planned to start in September. The next trainings with 20 participants each will take place in intervals of two months.