Peace by Capacity Building
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS: How to Achieve Peace through the Skill-Building of Individuals?
Traditional mediation practices tend to assign conflict management to experts and external facilitators. But what if individuals themselves had the skills needed to navigate their conflicts and make informed decisions? This call for contributions aims to explore approaches that empower individuals by training them in mediation and self-management of their conflicts, allowing them to acquire tools to directly influence their own destinies.
Conflict Mediation and Empowerment – How can we restore individuals’ ability to resolve their own conflicts and those of society? Building skills for sustainable conflict resolution towards a more serene and enduring world.
To move forward in this direction, we are launching a call for contributions on the theme "Conflict Mediation: Reversing Concepts and Enabling Individuals to Take Control of Their Destiny" to foster innovations, conflict resolution methods, and individual empowerment.
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As part of the 18th Geneva Forum, this annual conference offers a high-level interactive workshop scheduled for Thursday, December 10, 2026, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Geneva. It will bring together key players to discuss the potential for large-scale citizen alliances. This event is organized in partnership with the Geneva Forum and the NGO Objectif Sciences International.
Call for Contributions
We invite:
– education professionals, trainers, and engaged personal development professionals,
– entrepreneurs,
– ideologues and industry stakeholders,
– mediators, conflict management coaches,
– researchers,
to actively contribute to the reflection on conflict mediation networks around this key focus area.
Submit your projects!
We encourage contributors to share ideas, research, or projects that:
– develop educational tools and methods to strengthen individuals’ mediation skills,
– illustrate innovative initiatives to promote autonomy and responsibility in conflict management,
– present training or mentoring models that enable individuals to become competent mediators, responsible for their relationships.
Selected contributions will be presented in conferences, workshops, and roundtable discussions during the event, providing participants with a platform for exchange and inspiration to collaborate and promote autonomous and empowering conflict mediation.
- If you wish to propose a topic for a short presentation, please complete the form below on this page.
- To view the workshop agenda, please visit the page for the Geneva Forum Mediation of Conflict conference.
Workshop Agenda
- 08:30: Entry to the venue
- 09:00: Registration
- 09:15: Keynote speeches
- 09:35: Cycle of short presentations (10 speakers, 5 minutes each) - see below
- 10:30: Presentation of the discussion question
- 10:40: Small group sessions
- 11:45: Interactive roundtable (feedback session)
- 12:45: Closing remarks
- 13:00: End of the workshop
- 19:00 : Networking Dinner
Workshop Objectives - Why Participate
Workshop Objectives
- Encourage citizen-driven, autonomous mediation: Identify approaches and tools that make conflict mediation accessible to individuals, enhancing their skills and empowering them to resolve their own conflicts.
- Create autonomous training and mentoring models: Promote the development of training programs that equip individuals with essential skills for navigating personal or professional conflicts without relying on external mediators.
- Explore self-mediation tools: Discuss practices and mediation methods that can be taught and directly applied by individuals to increase their agency and resilience in conflict situations.
Why Participate?
By submitting your contribution, you will gain:
- - to showcase your ideas and conflict mediation initiatives, sharing your approaches with an engaged and diverse audience.
- - with mediation experts, coaches, organizations, and potential partners to collaborate and strengthen your projects for autonomous, citizen-driven mediation.
- - by developing methods and skills that allow individuals to take the lead in managing their conflicts, fostering a more resilient and responsible society.
This workshop is part of the Conflict Mediation Conference Series and this year aims to provide mediators, trainers, coaches, and personal development professionals with solutions, models, and tools to strengthen individuals’ autonomy in managing their own conflicts. The objective is to promote approaches that enable individuals to develop the skills and confidence needed to take the lead in conflict situations, positively and constructively influencing their own destinies.
Drawing on collaborative dynamics and exchanges between experts in mediation, psychology, and personal development, we will reflect together on methods to empower individuals and redefine mediation practices. The workshop will explore how a responsibility-driven approach to mediation can transform relationships, equipping individuals to resolve conflicts sustainably and independently.
To realize this approach, we will first give the floor to 10 professionals from various fields, each with 5 minutes to present their perspectives and practices during the first hour of the workshop. Participants will receive information about the speakers and their projects in advance. These short presentations will focus on best practices to strengthen personal mediation skills, based on criteria of effectiveness, autonomy, emotional resilience, and relational impact.
Visibility
- A space for exchange Conflict Mediation and Individual Empowerment – What skills and methods are needed for autonomous conflict management? An opportunity to actively contribute to a new vision of mediation
General Theme and Key Reflection Areas
Conflict mediation has often been viewed as a field requiring the intervention of a third-party expert to achieve satisfactory resolution. However, evolving educational methods and the rise of individual empowerment in modern societies are redefining traditional roles. The idea of autonomous mediation, where individuals can learn to manage and transform conflicts indepe
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