The 3 C's

Successfull conflict transformation and peacebuilding require knowledge, skills and experience. We have defined three  key factors that work as our guidelines in our  work:

• Compassionate
  Impartiality and trust of the conflict parties are crucial for the mediator. Both are based on the ability to emphatize with the feelings and thoughts of the parties involved.

This can be described as the emotional dimension of successfull 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 aspectcs 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 the process and the structure of the conflict transformation 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?

This can be described as the cognitive dimension of succesfull conflict transformation.

• Creative The complexity of sustainable conflict transformation (see Comprehensive)  requires extremely good skills and experience from the mediator. Sustainable and transformative work on the conflict is not  possible without creative ideas that enable innovative interventions and changes.

This can be described as the skill and experience dimension of conflict transformation.