Carter Center-Trained Bolivian Mediator Helps Families, Individuals Resolve Conflicts
 

A family of four waits outside Rita Jimenez Huancollo's wood-paneled office at the Integrated Justice Center (CIJ) in La Paz, Bolivia, husband and wife with eyes cast down, he folding and unfolding papers and she glancing sideways every so often to quietly encourage their children to sit patiently.

Each day, Huancollo meets with such families to mediate domestic violence disputes and other issues to resolve them peacefully; she believes that settling disagreements at the family level also will help her country, prone to social tensions because of its citizens' diverse identities based on history, territory, and ethnicity.

"The conflict within the family causes a lot of the country's conflicts," she said. "The culture of peace that we want starts at a personal and family level – if we have a society of satisfied people talking from their heart it will translate into less social conflict."

She learned the mediation skills that she uses as coordinator at the center from a recent Carter Center workshop on conflict resolution.

The Center has conducted training on conflict management tools to nearly 3,000 people around the country so far including young political leaders, representatives of civic organizations, social groups, and departmental authorities.

"We support a democratic process in Bolivia that is peaceful, inclusive, and respectful of human rights," said Jennifer McCoy, director of the Carter Center's Americas Program. "Our workshops aim to train key groups in society to manage conflicts in a more positive way - to see other points of view and have constructive dialogue."

Huancollo believes that the ability to listen is key to resolving conflict and is also something that many people are never taught.

"When we are able in the mediations to get people to listen to the other and wait and then explain their side, people start to understand the conflict better," she said. "I think that is what we need as Bolivians as a society. This is the goal – for the country to do this, the different parties need to learn how to dialogue. Now is the moment."

Posted Aug. 17, 2009