Mediation of Conflict, Peace and Security

Coming soon

The Association for the Promotion of Mediation in Morocco (APMM) has extensive experience in transforming conflicts related to natural resources in rural areas of Morocco. Through participatory action research, APMM directly involves communities in identifying problems and co-constructing solutions, ensuring that local knowledge and priorities remain at the center of decision-making.

The organization places strong emphasis on community dialogue and the democratization of information, making project data and impacts accessible to all stakeholders. By combining these approaches with mediation and capacity-building, APMM promotes inclusive, transparent, and sustainable natural resource management—turning potential conflicts into opportunities for collaboration and shared governance.

Across my career with the United Nations in fragile contexts like Kosovo, Sudan, and Iraq, I have witnessed firsthand how conflict erodes not just infrastructure and governance but individuals’ very agency - their fundamental capacity to make decisions, resolve disputes, and shape their own destinies. In these divided settings, from post-war Kosovo’s fractured municipalities to Sudan’s volatile border regions and Iraq’s complex ethnic tensions, one lesson stands loud and clear - sustainable peace demands that people reclaim this agency, transforming them from passive recipients into active architects of reconciliation. Without it, external interventions often falter, leaving communities trapped in cycles of dependency.

My proposed contribution reimagines mediation by prioritizing individual capacity-building as the cornerstone of conflict resolution, shifting from top-down facilitation to empowering everyday people with practical skills. This approach addresses the shortcomings of traditional models, which typically involve external experts and formal institutions designed to broker peace through structured negotiations and third-party oversight. While these models have historically aimed to provide impartial guidance and enforce agreements in high-stakes scenarios, they frequently foster reliance and perpetuate power imbalances, as I observed in Kosovo where imposed reforms sometimes left communities feeling disempowered. Drawing on my experiences, I advocate for equipping individuals with tools like active listening, emotional resilience, and collaborative problem-solving to handle disputes at the grassroots level, making mediation a self-sustaining practice rather than an imported solution.

This perspective is grounded in case studies from my fieldwork. In Kosovo, training young people in mediation techniques and entrepreneurship for instance fostered a cadre of community actors who became trusted conveners across ethnic lines. In Sudan, supporting local officials and actors to facilitate dialogue enabled communities to craft their own reconciliation plans, reducing external dependency. In Iraq, aiding grassroots actors in humanitarian coordination fostered peaceful engagement among diverse groups, enhancing resilience against polarization.

The lessons are clear.
 First, autonomy enables individuals to de-escalate disputes before they escalate.
 Second, emotional resilience equips communities, as in Iraq, to withstand the stressors of ongoing fragility.
 Third, relational responsibility as seen in Sudan’s grassroots initiatives, uniquely strengthens the social fabric that sustains peace.

At the Geneva Forum, I will present a framework weaving these elements and more into peacebuilding practice. By embedding skills at the grassroots while complementing expert mediation, we can restore dignity and agency as acts of profound transformation—turning passive recipients into active architects of reconciliation.

Coming soon