OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre’s Mediation Support Team hosts brainstorming session on Dialogue in Ukraine

Vienna, 5 May 2016 - The OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre took an important step towards furthering the OSCE’s approach to facilitating dialogue in Ukraine by inviting renowned international experts and local dialogue facilitators to participate with OSCE officials in an intensive day of brainstorming in Vienna on 26 April 2016.

Opportunities to promote open communication channels throughout Ukraine, potential topics for dialogue, identifying the best facilitators as well as tackling possible obstacles, guided the intense exchanges throughout the day. Participants shared their knowledge of current dialogue activities to determine a baseline for future initiatives. They discussed the preliminary findings of an academic research project mapping existing mediation and dialogue facilitation actors in Ukraine and gained valuable insights from practitioners from the Donbas region. Emphasizing the need to promote a culture of dialogue, they recommended a focus on practical topics that address daily challenges.

Divided into four working groups, participants identified possible ideas for dialogue initiatives in the areas of humanitarian issues and daily life, access to administrative services and infrastructure, business development and responsible journalism. The ideas discussed will be further considered by the Mediation Support Team to feed into the activities of OSCE structures working in Ukraine.

The Conflict Prevention Centre’s Mediation Support Team provides tailor-made mediation and dialogue facilitation support to all OSCE executive structures. It offers methodological advice on the design of complex negotiation processes, including analyses where needed, and provides individual coaching to high-level OSCE mediators, for example in the Transdniestrian Settlement Process or the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine. It also conducts specialized training, such as ceasefire mediation training for the Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.