Together with several partners, CEMPROC has proposed and is developing a conflict resolution, leadership, and nonviolence training program for Colombian refugee women living in the border region of Ecuador who have experienced violent conflict first hand in their home country. This program would include segments on violence and oppression, assertive and nonviolent social change, as well as interpersonal conflict resolution skills. The graduates of the programs would then be in a position to have a positive influence for nonviolent social change as leaders in their own organizations and communities.
In an effort to reach areas outside of Quito that are often underserved by nonprofit organizations, CEMPROC has proposed to bring a series of its Conflict Resolution for Children programs to public schools and daycares in Ibarra, in the province of Imbabura to the north of Quito. This project, which would be supported by the municipal government of Ibarra, would serve as an important model not only for educating children in developing areas in the importance of peaceful conflict resolution at a young age, but will also help to expand the constituency that can CEMPROC serves to new regions.
Capitalizing on its expertise in Spanish-language conflict resolution training in a Latin American context, CEMPROC plans to develop a full mediator training course to assist Spanish-speaking (bilingual or not) members of the U.S. Hispanic or Latino community to become trained, recognized conflict resolution experts who can provide mediation services to the public. As the court system becomes more and more reliant on mediation and alternative disute resolution to share the burden of resolving public conflicts, it is becoming more and more apparent that there is a dire need for mediators with Spanish language skills and Latin American cultural knowledge. One court official has confided that, as mediation for Spanish- speaking disputants is often handled through translators, trained mediators who are fluent in Spanish would be an extremely valuable commodity for the court system.
Through a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation, CEMPROC seeks to carry out a research and training project exploring environmental conflict dynamics in Ecuador. This would be an ambitious project to study conflict and conflict management patterns in mountain populations, particularly looking at methods of dealing with environmental conflict and resource scarcity. This project would also attempt to determine the most effective training and education methods to build capacity in conflict resolution as an environmental conservation measure. In collaboration with researchers at the University of Georgia, the Catholic University of Ecuador, and others, this would form part of a massive interdisciplinary study that would shed new light on ecological and human social dynamics in the context of mountainous regions of Ecuador.
