Mediation group to offer conflict resolution services (06/23/96)

Mediation group to offer conflict resolution services

by Matt London

WASHINGTON - Recently in Odessa a dispute broke out between two parties over who had the rights to a vacated apartment. In the past, there was no neutral, reliable mechanism in society to resolve such a dispute. Today, however, the Ukrainian Mediation Group (UMG) is beginning to fill that void.

The UMG is the brainchild of Nikolai Borisov, chairman of the Donetske Regional Mediation Group (DRMG) and one of the most experienced mediation specialists in Ukraine. In a nutshell, the UMG is a project to establish a nationwide network of centers offering mediation and conflict resolution services.

Currently, with funding from the Eurasia Foundation and with support from its United States NGO partner, the Washington-based Search for Common Ground (SCG), the UMG has established centers in Donetske, Odessa and Luhanske.

For Mr. Borisov, the idea of bringing mediation to Ukraine dates back to the late Soviet period when he and his colleagues studied personnel problems within the coal sector. At that time there were no "official" labor conflicts. Rather, there could only be disputes between individual workers and managers. When large-scale labor strikes broke out in 1989, it was clear that the Soviet system had no effective mechanism for dealing with conflict.

In the early 1990s, Mr. Borisov participated in several international conferences devoted to the resolution of labor disputes, and in 1993 the UMG was conceived as an independent, NGO institution to promote practical mediation in Ukraine.

Mr. Borisov, who was born in Kerch and is a graduate of Moscow State University's Department of Psychology, believes that mediation should find a welcoming home in Ukraine. "For historical reasons very much connected to the rich land, Ukrainians are essentially a calm, optimistic people. We are not as extreme as the Russians. I don't think you will see the Parliament being blown up in Kyiv and I don't think you will see a war over the Crimea. This is good soil for mediation," Mr. Borisov said.

The project is off to an encouraging start. There have been a series of intensive seminars to train a core group of mediators and case managers who will work out of the three established centers. Each city has already begun practical mediation. The types of cases being mediated vary: labor dismissal, apartment disputes, divorce and loan repayment, just to name a few. An important sign for the future success of the UMG is that the project is attracting young, educated Ukrainians.

What are the steps in the UMG mediation process? One party in a dispute contacts the UMG center. The case manager takes the details of the dispute and then must talk to the other parties to explain to them what mediation is and why they ought to give it a chance. If all parties agree to mediation, then the case manager assists the parties to select the mot appropriate UMG mediator for their dispute.

Once this is done, the mediator will sit down to help the parties themselves resolve the dispute. If successful, an agreement will be written up by the mediator and signed by the parties.

Certainly, obstacles remain. Most notably, mediation is still a new concept in Ukraine. In fact, many people confuse the word "mediation" with "meditation." Nevertheless, the centers have embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign through the press, the use of fliers, and word of mouth.

Recently, Michele Gullickson-Moore, Mediation Services Director of the Minneapolis Office of the American Arbitration Association, visited Ukraine to lead seminars in each city on case management and marketing. Not surprisingly, the Odessites lead the way in marketing. "I was interviewed three times by TV there. They are sharp and understand how to get the message out," she said.

In time, the centers will develop data bases of mediators and case histories, which will be connected to one another by e-mail. In that way, a school conflict in Donetske could be mediated by a school mediation specialist from Odessa. While a concrete fee structure has yet to be decided upon, the UMG does charge for its services. Parties are required to pay a small fee to the centers for case management in addition to an agreed upon sum to the UMG mediators.

Funds permitting, in the next year, the UMG will strengthen the three existing centers and begin to expand to other regions in Ukraine, most notably Lviv, Kyiv, and the Crimea. To date, the project has received support from the Eurasia Foundation and the Carnegie Corp of New York, in addition to a grant from the Mott Foundation to help develop labor-management relations models for privatizing enterprises.

Anyone interested in learning more about the UMG and/or is in a position to support the project should contact SCG's Scott Adams or Mr. Borisov in Donetske (telephone/fax: 38-0622-35-74-33 or e-mail: [email protected]) or SCG's Matt London in Washington (phone: 202-265-4300 or e-mail: [email protected]).

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