Methodology 

"This is what we need for our people". Participant of the Ghana training, 2007

Conflict is a normal part of life
From early childhood we face the challenge of living and working with each other: in the playground, at home, at school, in the community and at the office. Conflicts are opportunities to help us grow and learn. However, conflicts can also seriously hamper relations or development if it becomes a trap where we stay with our opposing positions and there seems to be no way out.

DPC - a pathway for overcoming division
Dialogue for Peaceful Change (DPC) is a methodology that creates a setting and provides a pathway for overcoming division. DPC is not the goal but the instrument in a process which seeks to build the creative and the practical skills of peaceful change. It’s about analysing the conflict situation and facilitating the road to solutions, found and agreed by the people who are in conflict or experience opposite interests.

The methodolgy of DPC
DPC offers a framework for analysing conflict and applying skills in a strategic and structured way. Within the trainings of DPC the basic skill is understanding conflict. This skill enables us to identify the mechanism of conflict and different ways of dealing with conflicts. To deepen this understanding DPC provides three models. With the FEARS model the drivers of conflict can be identified. The TIDES model enables us to identify the ways out of conflict into a situation of dynamic peace. The Iceberg model includes the FEARS and TIDES model and identifies the stages of conflict, and the (in)direct involved parties and the different strategies for each stage. This model also explains why conflicts can heat up again and again when the wrong (or non) strategy is chosen.

In combination with communication skills the aspirant facilitators learn a five step model of mediation. They can use this model in mediation settings but these skills are also the fundaments of the meditative behaviour that can be used in any setting.