Search for Common Ground

SFCG uses well-known conflict resolution techniques as well as less traditional ones, like TV production, radio soap opera, and community organising. Specific strategies include:

• Mediation and facilitation
• Dialogue workshops that bring together opponents
• Conflict-resolution institution building and training, including work with local partners to sponsor conflict-resolution centres in Gaza, Egypt, Macedonia, Angola, Burundi, and Ukraine
• Policy forums, including the Great Lakes Policy Forum in Washington and Brussels, the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum, and the Balkans Forum
• Joint action projects that encourage people in conflict to work together on shared problems. For example, SFCG enables Hutus and Tutsis in Burundi to cooperate on micro-credit projects; backs joint Israeli-Palestinian efforts; and sponsors collaboration between liberals and conservatives in the US
• Cross-ethnic cooperation within professions - SFCG convenes multi-ethnic meetings of editors, human rights activists, environmentalists, filmmakers, and scientists
• Back-channel negotiations
• Domestic shuttle diplomacy
• Community organising - for example, in Burundi, SFCG sponsors a Women's Peace Centre, which assists Hutu and Tutsi women in peace-making activities
• Court-based mediation - in Gaza, the West Bank, and Ukraine, SFCG has helped establish alternative dispute-resolution systems to lighten court dockets and improve the judicial process
• Education - courses in conflict resolution in Gaza, Jordan, Macedonia, and Ukraine
• Interethnic bilingual kindergartens in Macedonia
• Reduction of stereotypes - SFCG sponsored workshops and studies in the Middle East to examine stereotypes and promote anti-bias education and cross-cultural understanding
• Radio - SFCG operates radio studios in Burundi, Liberia, and Sierra Leone that produce news, features, music, and soap operas in an effort to encourage dialogue and discourage violence
• Television series promoting common ground in South Africa, Macedonia, Angola, and the US
• Children's TV in Macedonia to help strengthen cross-ethnic understanding
• Video-based dialogues in Angola and Macedonia
• Journalist training to try to diminish inflammatory reporting and promote mutual understanding in Macedonia, the Aegean region, and the Middle East
• Cross-ethnic team reporting in Macedonia
• Publications - SFCG produces a quarterly newsletter on regional cooperation in the Middle East and occasional monographs and anthologies co-authored by traditional foes
• Arts and culture - SFCG co-sponsors exchanges of art between Iran and the US, and supports drama troupes in Angola, Burundi, and Liberia
• Music - SFCG sponsors videos, peace songs and concerts, and festivals in Macedonia, Angola, and Burundi
• Sports - SFCG collaborated with USA Wrestling to take an American wrestling team to Iran. In Burundi, SFCG sponsors soccer matches between Hutu and Tutsi youths who were previously involved in violence
• Awards - SFCG presents the annual Common Ground Awards to honour outstanding achievement in peacemaking, to bring public attention to the field, and to encourage creative approaches.

Conflict.