This project is a complement to the above-mentioned study on the causes of conflict and is formally known as the Conflict Prevention in West Africa project. Given current tensions - both intra- and inter-state - in the region, the Clingendael Institute and CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa), one of the West African counterparts involved in the original global study, considered it opportune to study the possibilities for containment, conflict prevention, and peace-making in the region. Part of the conceived approach involved analyzing lessons learned and best practices from other regions. Because the Arias Foundation's founder was a key player in the Central American peace process, the Foundation was asked to prepare a systematized account of the Esquipulas II process. The Central American peace process, as well as the peace efforts of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Liberia and of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), were then cross-compared and applied to the current West African context in an effort to find a replicable model.

The project methodology required the research team to assess both the overarching regional process and the different national peace processes, paying close attention to five different variables: mechanisms, mandates, procedures or working methods, actual practices, and conditions for success or failure. Mr. Carlos Murillo, a Costa Rican native and an expert on the regional peace process, collaborated with the Arias Foundation staff to prepare this report. Mr. Murillo had recently finished a much larger volume on the peace process which was used as the basis for this project. Arias Foundation staff members did additional investigation to summarize the individual peace processes in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In fact, the research on the national peace processes is a unique product of this project since no one source gathers systematic information on each of the three national processes. Although the papers prepared on the three countries were only inputs for the final report, the Arias Foundation is currently negotiating with the Clingendael Institute to see if this unique resource can be published in a bilingual volume.

The report on the Central American peace process was presented at a workshop hosted by CODESRIA in Senegal in October 1998. The results of the full comparative study are being prepared for publication, in English, by the Clingendael Institute.

Regional Projects

In recent years, Latin America has experienced a great expansion in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods, largely in response to problems facing the traditional state system for the administration of justice. Indeed, the courts themselves have recognized the benefits, particularly as regards the reduced caseload and related burden, that can be derived from channeling certain types of cases through alternative methods such as arbitration, conciliation, or mediation. Thus, the courts have themselves promoted the growing trend toward diversifying the options available to the public for resolving their disputes. The availability of additional channels for conflict resolution is of special importance in zones that have been ravaged by conflict or traditionally excluded from national processes. There, the state may not have the presence that it has in other areas, particularly the capital and regional centers, making access more costly and time consuming and, therefore, more difficult.

For the past ten years, the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress has struggled to promote the conditions that will allow for a firm and lasting peace in Central America. Although to date conflict resolution has not been a principal focus of the Arias Foundation, conflict prevention and citizen participation have been primary programmatic areas. With the Central American peace process entering its second decade, the risk of renewed armed conflict has diminished considerably. However, a culture of violence and a lack of democratic ideals persist, generating growing social conflict and endangering the advances that were made in the 1990s. The Arias Foundation firmly believes that only by reversing the culture of violence and instilling in its place a culture of peace can Central America reach its goals for a firm and lasting peace and sustainable human development.

Creating a culture of peace begins at the community level, promoting the peaceful resolution of conflicts among families, friends, and neighbors. By teaching individuals to address their disputes in a non-violent, constructive manner, and by providing community mediation centers that will facilitate access to such procedures and individual involvement in resolution, the Arias Foundation believes that it can initiate a reversal of the culture of violence that sadly predominates in the region and even in Costa Rica, the region's oasis of peace and democracy for more than fifty years. Because ADR and specifically community mediation are relatively new concepts in the region, such an effort must begin with a pilot project.

With this project, the Arias Foundation will establish two pilot centers for community mediation in Costa Rica, one in a rural community and one in an underprivileged urban neighborhood. To support the centers' activities and to provoke awareness-raising of ADR in the region as a whole, the Arias Foundation will train ninety Costa Ricans and an additional thirty Central Americans in mediation theory and practical skills. Costa Rican participants will receive an additional forty hours of individual training that will qualify them as certified mediators, with the goal of having twenty certified mediators upon completion of the project. The training methodology and all necessary course materials will be designed in the early phases of the project and tested during three separate training sessions, with the objective of developing a model course for community mediation training. Similarly, all procedures and operating guidelines for the mediation centers will be compiled with the final goal of developing a model for community mediation that can be replicated throughout Central America.

Human Resource Development Projects

The Arias Foundation staff is composed of many bright and highly motivated individuals who have dedicated their lives to pursuing peace and social justice in Central America and the world. Representing a variety of academic fields, including law, sociology, anthropology, history, the arts and the sciences, most of the Arias Foundation staff have never received formal training in mediation or negotiation, despite the fact that they often are required to fill such roles in their project activities. Already lauded as a leading regional NGO and respected for the many advances it has made, the Arias Foundation would be enhanced even further if its staff were able to boast specialized training that has prepared them for the delicate tasks of building consensus and creating space for dialogue in societies that until recently were victimized by authoritarianism and violence.

To be effective, the Foundation's projects need to meet the approval of a wide array of interests - military, civilian, labor, business, rich, poor, urban, rural - because only a broad base of support will provide the foundation needed to establish essential principles such as democracy and equality. But these different actors have just emerged from decades of armed conflict among themselves; therefore, establishing wide and diverse societal support requires negotiating with the different parties involved and seeking proposals that accommodate the greatest number possible. Indeed, the Foundation's personnel often find themselves in tense environments. For this reason, the Arias Foundation staff must be able to recognize the potential for conflict, to distinguish the diverse positions of the various parties, and to propose solutions that neither alienate nor discriminate against one or more of the parties. Formalizing this neutral, "good offices" role is even more crucial given the fact that, as a Costa Rican organization, some Central Americans consider the Arias Foundation an outsider and a stranger to the realities of conflict-torn countries because of Costa Rica's peaceful past.

Training in negotiation, mediation, and conflict resolution has become imperative if the Arias Foundation is effectively to create legitimate and credible fora for dialogue in Central America and to implement the mechanisms necessary to achieve just, democratic, and peaceful societies. An initial three-day training course in collaborative negotiations was held in July 1998, and more advanced courses are envisioned for the future, including classes on mediation, conciliation, and other techniques. Training focuses on both the theory of conflict resolution and its different manifestations as well as on the development of the practical skills used in the different types of conflict resolution efforts.