Article
Conflict Intervention Training as Strategic Convening: Lessons from Syria
Journal of Peacebuilding and Development
(2019)
Abstract
This article develops a framework of training design to intervene in active armed conflict. A case study of Syria presents a context of the inquiry. The concept of strategic convening is introduced to describe the kind of purposefully organised activities that bring conflict parties together from across lines of division. Strategic convening develops a safe, humanising social space that helps foster enabling conditions for conflict management and resolution. Building on a first-hand experience of conducting three workshops between 2014 and 2015 for Syrian humanitarian professionals, this study explores how to use training as a means to develop constructive human interaction when training offers a rare opportunity and incentive for people from different community and regional backgrounds to come together. This study builds on an action research project in which the researcher as a trainer interacted closely with training participants and identified patterns of their thinking about conflict management, coexistence, and reconciliation across multiple training sessions. Key findings include the critical roles of pragmatic conflict management skills as well as the skills for orchestrating coexistence amongst adversaries in an effort to secure access to humanitarian aid and development resources.
Keywords
- Syria,
- training,
- conflict management,
- conflict resolution,
- humanitarian assistance,
- action research,
- coexistence,
- reconciliation,
- space,
- convening
Disciplines
Publication Date
2019
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/1542316619862770
Citation Information
Arai, Tatsushi. 2019. Conflict Intervention Training as Strategic Convening: Lessons from Syria. Journal of Peacebuilding and Development 14 (3).
Creative Commons license
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY International License.