Log on to ... Conflict resolution

Over the past year we've seen a new emphasis on responding to gun and knife crime, which has led to further policy initiatives and funding streams. Youth workers, though, have always been at the forefront of dealing with the often volatile emotions of adolescents. They help young people to resolve their conflicts without resorting to violence and enable them to see conflict as an often inevitable process that can be properly managed to give a better outcome.

One organisation that has been at the forefront of developing this area of work has been Leap Confronting Conflict. Its website www.leapconfronting conflict.org.uk offers details of its project, resources and available training. Also, www.peerlink.org.uk is the site of its peer-mediation project PeerLink, the body that grew out of Leap's Young Mediators' Network. This project helps to develop conflict resolution by offering support to young people taking on the role of bringing together two parties, helping them to examine the issues and moving beyond the conflict.

This site includes a nine-minute film that shows how trained young mediators can intervene through "on-the-spot mediation" with their friends and families to prevent arguments escalating into more serious conflicts. The film and a downloadable checklist expand on a traffic-light system for spotting conflict and deciding whether and how it is safe to try to intervene. Other resources include a factsheet and a report on a survey showing how mediators are using their skills and demonstrating the effectiveness of their interventions. There is also a downloadable information pack on PeerLink for adults, to help youth workers assess the relevance of the work and the impact that being trained as a mediator can have on young people.

Conflict resolution, or conflict management, has been a topic for the European Commission's Youth In Action programme. Its project, For a Future to Come, ran between January 2007 and March 2009, bringing together groups from the UK, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Poland and Germany. Some of the themes raised at training events, youth exchanges, seminars and online collaborations have been put into a sizeable manual on conflict management, downloadable from http://future.moe-online.com, which takes readers through definitions of conflict, principles of alternative conflict resolution and types of negotiation and conflict management. It also includes nine training exercises for use by non-formal educators with young people.

If you are looking for a partner closer to home, Diversity and Dialogue works to promote cohesion and its website www.diversityanddialogue.org.uk includes a directory of organisations working in related fields, including conflict resolution. It also has extensive resources detailing how to run events working with young people, from an inter-faith dialogue day to a "working in divided communities" session that addresses dealing with conflict.

One body featured in the directory is Aik Saath, a youth group based in Slough, which was set up to respond to conflict between groups of Asian young people in the town. It has developed into a specialist conflict resolution project that has trained more than 100 young people as peer mentors.

A section of its website, www.aiksaath.com/thezone.html, contains straightforward exercises, including quizzes and scenarios with questions to help young people understand the roots of conflict, its effects and the various ways of responding.

Christian charity WorldVision works internationally and at www.worldvision.org.uk there are quick exercises to get young people thinking about conflict issues. This is available in three forms that are adapted for schools, youth workers and church groups.

At the Conflict Resolution Information Service's website, http://v4.crinfo.org, there's a wealth of resources and links, as well as a collection of essays, definitions and further weblinks on each of 600 conflict-related topics ranging from active listening to culture-based negotiation styles, peace-building and restorative justice. This is a project of the University of Colorado and the site has an international focus.

WEB FILE

www.leapconfrontingconflict.org.uk - Details of conflict-resolution projects, resources and available training

www.peerlink.org.uk - Offers support to young people acting as mediators

http://future.moe-online.com - Information on types of negotiation and conflict management

www.diversityanddialogue.org.uk - Directory of organisations working in related fields and extensive resources

www.aiksaath.com/thezone.html - Contains exercises, quizzes and scenarios to help young people manage conflict

www.worldvision.org.uk - Offers quick exercises to get young people thinking about conflict issues

http://v4.crinfo.org - A wealth of resources and links to related topics.