BeyondIntractability.org   BeyondIntractability.org
Beyond Intractability: A Free Knowledge Base on More Constructive Approaches to Destructive Conflict
   


Introduction: Greg Brown, Program Officer for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), uses his experience in the Balkans to reflect on whether bringing discussions of the conflict into joint projects risks shattering what little trust has been built.


This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).

Risks of Losing Trust
Greg Brown
Program Officer, Balkans and Caucasus Programs, International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Interviewed by
Julian Portilla
2003

I don't think I ever would have seen it as an opportunity to have this big discussion about anything relating to the war but I do think if anything you can do training with your own staff that are there so that they can be aware of the risks that or, better, where the risks are that are there, you know how to deal with some sort of conflict arise with the group. I think it is more about sort of sensitizing the environment and when opportunities appear you can pursue them further. Obviously each council was different, too. You had one council in the south in Pristina ???, which was known as a more tolerant area, more multi-ethnic, where in fact in the town of Prisna ???, the lengua franca is still Turkish or it was. You have other areas where the hardest ??? KLA, the rebel group resistance was, and you really had more atrocities committed.

Obviously there is a certain sensitivity to that, like to what was possible in one place was not possible in another. Also just the types of groups that were funded and the type of work they were doing maybe with one group it is pretty much clear what they are doing; they are going to get some new tractors, and they are going to be better able to bring their goods to market and market them where a lot of them were killed. Okay maybe the opportunity isn't there but there might be another group. There is an elderly group in urban Pristinia, and it really was more. There were older Serbs that hadn't left or whatever, so then maybe amongst those women as they are sitting around knitting there is an opportunity to engage in discussion or shape that discussion in a way that stuff could come up. So I think it is very subjective which I think is the difficult part about entering into a project in partnership with another NGO because who knows what the real opportunity really is there. It is hard to discern but I think having the connection with them is important because then at the point at which that would be useful and that could be really productive then you have that resource available and I don't think people think that way. I mean it was like the comment made earlier, you have all these people going out, UNDP's doing one thing, this conflict group is doing another thing, this humanitarian assistance group is doing another thing, you know OSCE or whoever is doing another thing and there's lots of missed opportunities there.

 
I believe we are on the edge of a quantum leap into a whole new way of organizing and living as a human family. -- Mairead Corrigan Maguire

Featured Links
Organizations Making Noteworthy Contributions to Efforts to Promote More Constructive Conflict
Partners for Democratic Change (PDC)
Partners for Democratic Change


Other Resources from
Beyond Intractability
Web-Based Conflict Research Tutorials
Web-Based Conflict Research Tutorials

A guide to using the Web for conflict resolution research.

Nobel Peace Prize Winners

Sean MacBride
Sean MacBride

Former President of the International Peace Bureau, former President of the Commission of Namibia, and 1974 Nobel Peace Laureate

Beyond Intractability Version IV
Copyright © 2003-2007 The Beyond Intractability Project
Beyond Intractability is a Registered Trademark of the University of Colorado
Project Acknowledgements

The Beyond Intractability Knowledge Base Project
Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess, Co-Directors and Editors
c/o Conflict Information Consortium (Formerly Conflict Research Consortium), University of Colorado
Campus Box 580, Boulder, CO 80309
Phone: (303) 492-1635; Fax: (303) 492-2154; Contact
University of Colorado at Boulder