Fair Fund
Dru Campaign

Medical Legal Partnership for Children
Low-income housing dispute system

Auschwitz Center for Peace and Reconciliation
Developing a Negotiation Training

Boston Paulist Center
“Safe Space” for Disaffected Catholics

Developing a Training for Facilitators

An Assessment of Disaffection Within the Catholic Church in Boston

American Friends Service Committee
Developing a management model that incorporates Quaker ideals

State Department
Distributing funds through the U.N. Compensation Commission

Office of New York City Council Member Daniel R. Garodnick
Development of the Former ConEd property in East Manhattan

Consensus Building Institute
(3) Urban Federal Land Exchange
          
(2) Municipal Approaches to Immigration

(1) Developing Facilitation Expertise for NGOs

Challenge: Develop a consensus process for municipal approaches to immigration

Using innovative strategies, The Consensus Building Institute improves the way leaders, advocates, experts and communities make public and organizational decisions. In the summer of 2007, an omnibus bill to address a range of immigration issues across the United States failed to pass the U.S. Senate. Without an overarching federal framework to address immigration, these issues remain unaddressed. CBI proposed to convene a dialogue of municipalities, immigration advocacy groups of various views, and other appropriate stakeholders in a public policy dialogue to develop concrete, effective legal policy recommendations for counties and municipalities regarding these issues. The challenge of this project was to produce a viable design for a consensus process that could be funded, draw broad participation, and be initiated in 2008.

Our work: Design the process for a multi-stakeholder dialogue

Step 1: Research local laws that have been passed regarding immigration.

Step 2: Identify the key issues that municipalities have sought to address through local policy reforms.

Step 3: Frame a possible purpose statement, objectives and process design for the dialogue.

Step 4: Identify the key stakeholders and potential partners, their interests, and reasons why they may support such an effort.

Final Product: A report outlining the results of the interviews, the results of the research, and, based on this data, a recommendation whether to hold a policy dialogue, and if so, how it should be framed, structured, and possibly funded.

Challenge: Develop a dispute system to address major injury claims

Covenant Transport is one of the top ten trucking companies in the United States. Typically, such trucking companies face extremely costly and time-consuming legal claims seeking millions of dollars for personal injury or death resulting from unavoidable traffic accidents. In addition, the prolonged process of discovery and settlement negotiation does little to relieve the distress of the damaged individuals and their families. Gamesmanship and posturing on both sides greatly diminish chances of reaching early and reasonable settlements. Covenant Transportation approached HNMCP to develop a strategy for arriving at early and more equitable settlements in such cases. The challenge of this project was to design a dispute system for major claims that favors interest-based solutions while still fitting with the usual framework of mass tort claims and the particular culture of the defense bar.

Our work: Design a new approach to injury claims

Step 1: Conduct interviews of key actors in the negotiation of catastrophic accident claims.

Step 2: Conduct phone meetings with the General Counsel of Covenant Transport to discuss possible strategy formulations and the feasibility of their implementation.

Final Product: A draft of the “Covenant Model” of interest-based liability claims resolution, presented as a handbook on how Covenant will pursue claims in a way that maximizes the likelihood of early resolution, and corresponds with the overall ethos of the company, namely to "do the right thing."

Mercy Corps works amid disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability to unleash the potential of people who can win against nearly impossible odds. In a number of the countries where Mercy Corps works, the staff confronts land conflict issues. In some cases, they have designed specific programs to address the land conflict but in other cases, there is no specific program in place to address land conflict directly. The purpose of this project was to collect information on best practices from countries where Mercy Corps and other agencies manage land conflicts.

Our work: Evaluate models for land disputes

Step 1: Communicate with country staff about the type of land conflicts they confront.

Step 2: Research how Mercy Corps as well as other international nongovernmental organizations manage land conflict.

Step 3: Develop a document proposing a best-practice process field manual for understanding and addressing land disputes in a humanitarian context.

Final Product: A draft 'framework for action' on how to approach land disputes in a humanitarian context.

The Paulist Center Community offers members and all who gather a warm, spiritual home for progressive Catholics. In May 2006, the Paulist Center established the Paulist North American Office for Reconciliation “To develop a wide pastoral process to address the needs for dialogue and reconciliation in the Church today."  The center seeks to address the needs of a church community traumatized by the sexual abuse scandal and conflict over numerous Church teachings and positions. The idea of this project was to evaluate one proposed method for promoting reconciliation within the Catholic community. The proposed idea, called a “safe space,” would provide alienated Catholics with a low-risk, facilitated space where they can engage in dialogue and active listening with other Catholics and members of the Catholic hierarchy. HNMCP helped develop this model by convening and facilitating two groups of participants, following and analyzing their experiences to create a set of recommendations on how to craft the program moving forward.

Our work: Evaluate the “safe space” model

Step 1: Research and understand the issues involved in internal Catholic Church conflicts and similar dispute resolution efforts in the field.

Step 2: Work with Bob Bowers, Consultant for Outreach and Reconciliation at the Paulist Center in Boston, for orientation, planning and the construction of the two groups.

Step 3: Develop and run the "safe space" model, including the interview process for potential participants.

Step 4: Conduct exit interviews with each participant, focusing on whether their expectations for the effort were met.

Step 5: Reconvene the group and present the project's findings to the group for review and for their comments.

Final Product: Finalized facilitation manual for the 'safe space model.'

Challenge: Design a stakeholder dialogue model to help resolve land ownership disputes on the Western United States

CBI improves the way leaders, advocates, experts and communities make public and organizational decisions. The Bureau of Land Management is one of the largest landholders in the western United States. It manages 262 million acres of lands, almost solely west of the Mississippi. Though once rural, many western states now face tremendous population growth. As these urban areas push up against BLM boundaries, there is tremendous pressure upon the federal government to turn abutting public land over to the private sector for development and inclusion within city boundaries. CBI hoped to convene a dialogue among interested stakeholders (BLM, cities, states, private sector developers, environmental NGOs) on the national policy implications of these major urban-BLM land exchanges. HNCMP was asked to develop the guidelines for this stakeholder dialogue.

Our work: Evaluate the possibility of a stakeholder dialogue

Step 1: Research and review the land issues in the Western United States and identify any existing dialogue efforts, reports, pending legislative proposals, or other initiatives related to this topic.

Step 2: Interview key stakeholders via phone to explore the policy implications of potential land swaps by the federal government and the interest in convening some kind of federal policy dialogue.

Step 3: Analyze the interviews.

Final Product: A report outlining the results of the interviews, the results of the research, and, based on this data, a recommendation on whether to hold a policy dialogue, and if so, how it would be scoped, structured, and possibly funded.

Challenge: Develop facilitation expertise for NGOs

CBI improves the way leaders, advocates, experts and communities make public and organizational decisions. Numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) across the country are engaged in coalition building and collaboration. Whether it is sustainable agricultural organizations seeking to partner with environmental groups on national farm policy, or violence prevention groups and community development corporations partnering to reduce gang violence, diverse organizations are having to find innovative ways to align their strategies and work together. Foundations are increasingly requiring their grantees to work within alliances and coalitions. NGOs are discovering that they cannot have meaningful, real change collaboration across traditional disciplinary lines. One of the key skills numerous NGOs are calling out for are superior facilitation skills to help these diverse groups work more efficiently and effectively together.  CBI hoped to create a training for NGOs on how to facilitating collaboration. HNMCP assisted CBI in develop, market, and deliver this training.

Our work: design a training program in coalition building

Step 1: Interview NGOs to understand their particular training needs in this area.

Step 2: Review existing materials at CBI, PON, and CDR and use the materials to create a training manual.

 Step 3: Develop and implement a marketing plan to NGOs and foundations across the U.S.

Final Product: A training manual for NGOs interested in working within alliances and coalitions, presentation of these materials, and evaluation of the training course with recommendations for further course refinement.

Challenge: Develop a dispute systems for a cooperative working group coordinating United Nations Compensation funding

The Department of State is the U.S. Government’s executive branch agency with the primary responsibility for foreign affairs and diplomacy. The Office of the Legal Adviser consists of attorneys, paralegals, and support staff who serve as legal counsel for the Department’s various offices, embassies, and missions world wide. This office serves as the lead office for representing the U.S. Government at the UN Compensation Commission (UNCC) in Geneva. The UNCC was established by the UN Security Council in 1991 to process claims and pay compensation for losses resulting from Iraq’s invasion into Kuwait. Among the many claimants, four countries – Iran, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia - were awarded compensation for environmental damages. The UNCC has recently begun to fund these awards, creating in the process, a regional environmental working group RERAG to coordinate projects and share information about each country’s process with its environmental remediation efforts. This joint-effort is a unique opportunity to promote coordination in the region and achieve positive gains for the environment. HNMCP helped to conduct a two part project with regard to the RERAG group. First, the students conducted a conflict assessment of RERAG’s interests as a group and of its individual participants. Then, they developed a systems design proposal for how the group, given its multi-faceted interests, should operate both on the procedural and substantive levels.

Our work: Conduct an interest assessment and work with the stakeholders to create a systems design

Step 1: Research on the dynamics of cooperative workgroups that are created out of a negotiation process.

Step 2: Research on the best system and process design for attaining the desired goals of this particular workgroup.

Step 3: Gather facts with the Department of State, the UNCC Secretariat, and representatives from the RERAG member countries, as necessary.

Step 4: Travel to Washington and potentially to Geneva to attend meetings, as necessary, to complete the project.

Final Product: A final report outlining a conflict assessment of the RERAG and proposing a system and process design for the group. This report should include both overarching analysis and distinct, concrete recommendations that can ultimately be used by the UNCC and RERAG.

Challenge: Conduct a stakeholder assessment of a larger building project in New York City

Daniel R. Garodnick is a member of the New York City Council, representing a large portion of the East Side of Manhattan. A large lot in the Council Member’s district, comprising nearly nine acres of land on the East River, is the subject of a dispute as to how it is best developed. The lot was formerly the site of a power plant owned by the local electric company, Con Edison. The power plant and associated buildings are being demolished to make way for new construction. The new owner of the land proposes to build several skyscrapers of luxury housing and office space, as well as a privately owned but publicly accessible park. To accomplish those goals, the developer seeks to have the City rezone the property. As a result, the City has the opportunity to weigh in on the form of the eventual development. A coalition of elected officials (including the Council Member) and community groups has been pressuring the developer to reduce the scale of the buildings and to provide certain public benefits as part of the project, such as affordable housing, a school, public access to the waterfront, and infrastructure improvements. HNMCP was asked to generate ideas on how to work with the developer to maximize the public benefit that can result from this venture.

Our work: Conduct a stakeholder assessment

Step 1: Research and review literature on real estate negotiations between developers and local government.

Step 2: Conduct interviews with various stakeholders to understand their concerns and interests, both over the phone and in New York.

Final Product: A report outlining the concerns and interests of the various stakeholders, identifying points of commonality, and presenting proposals to maximize the public benefit that could result from the project.

Challenge: Develop a guidebook and training for advocates of strong campus policies towards sexual violence

FAIR Fund is an international organization that supports and engages young women in civic activism to address gender-based violence in their communities and lives. One in four college women report suffering from sexual violence during their college careers. Moreover, this number is deceptively low because less then 10 percent of sexual assaults are reported to police, according to a National Institute of Justice research report. The Dru Campaign, launched in the Fall of 2006, looks holistically at the issue of sexual violence against young women. FAIR Fund asked HNMCP to create a comprehensive toolkit and training program for undergraduates hoping to advocate for new or better campus reporting polices on sexual violence.

Our work: Create a handbook and training curriculum

Step 1: Review of history and best practices of student advocacy and lobbying on college campuses - particularly with regard to campus policies on gender-based violence and safety.

Step 2: Convene focus group discussions with three college campus undergraduate student groups to discuss the toolkit materials.

Step 3: Review and include in the manual best strategies in lobbying, campaigning, and negotiations in this area.

Final Product: A refined toolkit and training guide for college campus activists on creating or improving campus policies on gender-based violence, including the reporting mechanisms for sexual violence.

Challenge: Conduct a conflict assessment of the Boston Archdiocese

The Paulist Center Community offers members and all who gather a warm, spiritual home for progressive Catholics. In May 2006, the Paulist Center established the Paulist North American Office for Reconciliation “To develop a wide pastoral process to address the needs for dialogue and reconciliation in the Church today." HNMCP was asked to conduct a conflict assessment of the Boston Archdiocese and suggest approaches for reconciliation and healing.

Our work: Conduct a conflict assessment

Step 1: Research the history and organization of the Catholic Church, the background of recent Boston-specific troubles in the Archdiocese, and the theory and practice of dispute resolution in various contexts.

Step 2: Interview various stakeholders including parishioners, clergy, and inactive Catholics from across the Archdiocese to determine what conflicts exist and what resolution processes are already in place.

Final Product: A report detailing the findings of the research on conflict in the Boston Archdiocese and the results of the stakeholder interviews. The report also made recommendations for possible reconciliation and healing processes for the Catholic community.