Conflict management and inclusion: civil society works for unity and understanding

Since 2017, the "Regional Union of Youth" has been implementing the "Crisis prevention and Peace building in Ukraine – Time to Act!” project, supported with German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), Funding programme zivik.

As part of the project for 2019, two training courses on conflict management and inclusion in local communities are planned and implemented. The participants are working on understanding and analyzing the essence of the conflict and its actors: their behaviour, motivation and psychology. Besides, the participants receive knowledge on conflict resolution and management, mediation and basic trainer’s skills, which provides them with the opportunity to disseminate this knowledge in their communities.

The trainings are attended by residents of the eastern regions of Ukraine with an active position, focused on resolving internal conflicts in their communities, as well as representatives of civic organizations and internally displaced persons. After the training, they organize and conduct one-day mini-workshops (ten in total), thus transferring the acquired knowledge to the peers in their communities. At the moment, the participants of the first training course, which was implemented in spring in the city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, have already held such events.

Thus, a workshop was implemented by Daria Kondratieva in the city of Myrnohrad, Donetsk region.

Teenagers took part in the workshop. The group worked on understanding the term "Conflict", as well as detecting the indicators of conflict and its origins. The group also watched a video "Can there be a world without conflict?" Apart from that, participants studied modus operandi in conflict, took online testing for predominant action patterns in conflict, and worked out the features of conflict response.

In the city of Dobropillia, Donetsk region, Nadia Bilytska and Olha Snisarenko held a workshop on the definition of the term "Conflict" for Dobropillia activists.

"It was useful for the group to see the example of an exercise with pictures, where although there is one picture, there may be several points of view about what is painted in it. It was also useful to understand using the example of an exercise on constructing a square with a rope and eyes closed, that the conflict can be for one purpose, but with different behavioural patterns, and what to do at this point. The participants also learned that according to uptick in violence there are four types of relations between purposes and behavioural patterns," the multipliers emphasized. They also noted that watching the video "Experiment "Universe - 25" was helpful.

Larysa Kalinichenko held the "Intergenerational Conflict" workshop in Kremenchuk.

"During the training in Kramatorsk participants determined the basic principle of training implementation: peer-to-peer. The trainers approved my decision to hold the event in the Territorial Social Service Center of the Kriukivskyi district of the Social Security Department and ATO issues of the executive committee of Kremenchuk city council. We planned to have 20 participants, but 25 were actually present. The purpose of the workshop was to familiarize the participants with some modern methods and techniques of conflict analysis and highlighting the resource opportunities of intergenerational conflict", the multiplier said.

According to her, the participants were acquainted with each other, as they were students of the "Psychology" course of the Third Age University at Kriukivskyi Territorial Center. "For some time, the participants actively disagreed that the conflict has a resource and can be seen as an impetus for development. In further discussion, I realized that most of the participants confuse conflict with violence. This fact prevented the participants from looking at conflict from a different angle. Besides, sometimes I found it difficult to work with a mature audience, as I have no relevant experience. In general, my impressions of the group are quite opposite. Active, educated, interested women took part; in fact, I relied on them during the process. However, some representatives in the discussions and exercises clearly demonstrated age-related rigidity. I was ready for this and, in general, I managed to complete the program of the event", multiplier confided.

Andrii Nykyforenko held the "Reasoning: Conflict Analysis" workshop for teenagers in Mariupol.

The event was attended by 16 participants. "The workshop aimed to acquaint participants with argumentation as a communicative process of persuasion, its elements and rules, methods of conflict analysis; to develop the ability to distinguish and apply existing types and ways of reasoning, the ability to understand the conceptual basis of conflict, to diagnose, classify, and transform conflicts; learn to build tactics and strategy of the dispute; to improve skills and strategies of practical work with conflicts; to work out practical tools of behaviour in conflict situations; to develop the ability to guard against logical errors in proofs; to identify and overcome traps of logical, socio-psychological, organizational nature during disputes; and to outline the features of refutation as a kind of reasoning and to develop skills of teamwork and public speaking".

Tetiana Ivanova and Kateryna Medynska held two workshops for young people (15-16 years of age) of Kramatorsk and Yasnohorka "Important life skills: understanding the conflict".

"Young people, who are now 15-16, in their 10-11 years have been under occupation for a month and saw death, blood, fell asleep to the sounds of shellbursts, and sometimes do so even now, have been living in constant stress for five years. These are young people with different destinies and traumas. In my opinion, their relations in the team are natural, but there are situations when a small conflict (beginning with a few wrong words) is ready to grow into something bigger. The workshop (they talked about it at the final round) helped them to gain insight on many issues and understand them", Tetiana shared her impressions.

Participants also gave feedback on the May workshop.

Esfir: "Everything was great! Time flew by. A lot of new and useful information. I did not even suspect that conflicts have any specific kinds. I love it when the useful is combined with the pleasing. I not only gained knowledge, but also played games. I also learned that I was a "shark" according to the Thomas-Kilmann conflict mode test. Special thanks for Tetiana and the delicious food, which once again pleases us with new guests. I am glad to have attended this workshop”.

Oleksandra: "Oh, that was fun, despite the fact that my thoughts did not keep up with what was happening a little! I think I still have not quite realized what happened, but it was great!".

The second workshop for young people of Kramatorsk on "Important life skills: understanding the conflict".

"During this workshop, we have recognized the importance of understanding our emotions and knowing our needs - this helps us to live a full life and be happy. There is aggression in society towards people who differ in their thoughts and behaviour, so it is important to see ourselves through others' eyes. To gain new experience is also very important for analyzing our own actions. Frankly speaking, we did not think that this topic would capture the participants so much, but it just happened. The two groups (at the final round) asked for continuation, because, according to them, they wanted to learn how to get out of conflicts peacefully, through the compromise, they wanted to learn to understand their own and other people's needs," Katerina and Tetiana confided.

During the teamwork, the participants defined the "conflict" concept, formulated definitions, and discussed how to regard the conflict. The trainer also worked with the group to determine whether the dispute was always a conflict of interest. Besides, practical exercises were performed to unite the group and facilitate communication. The workshops were attended by an average of 20 participants.

A workshop held by Yevheniia Livenstein took place in Kharkiv.

The seminar was for teenagers. The multiplier conducted the teamwork on the "conflict" concept definition, and helped children to master basic skills regarding conflict types, analysis methods, and ways out of conflict. When performing practical tasks, the group developed the acquired knowledge and skills. The effectiveness of the event is proven by the positive feedback of the participants received following the results of the workshop.

In Chernihiv, the Conflict Management workshop was held by Bohdana Korovayeva.

"The exercise "Is conflict Cheburashka, an animal unknown to science?" helped participants to update their basic knowledge, as well as to adopt a working definition of the term "conflict". One more exercise on conflicts analysis, "Spit into the wind", was performed for the teams to understand why conflicts arise and whether conflicts are inevitable. As for the "Resource box" exercise, it provided the group with practical tools to study conflict behaviour patterns", the multiplier told.

Olena Perova held a Conflict Management workshop the city of Ukrainsk, Donetsk region.

The seminar is aimed at the prevention and resolution of conflict situations in society. According to the multiplier, the event will help the community members to familizrize with the signs of conflict, stages of conflict, general and own strategies of behaviour in conflicts. The workshop will also help the community members to seize room for effective communication during conflict.

The events conducted by the participants of the first Reconciliation and Conflict Management training course provided the residents of a number of local communities with specific tools, practical skills and knowledge in the area of conflict management.