When an intervener sets out to do a conflict analysis and mapping process, they are going to have to collect substantial information before ever bringing the parties together.
The intervener can collect this information through recorded and archival material, which can sometimes be helpful if there is a need to gather historical information that has been documented in various sources.
However, the ideal way to get information is through direct communication. The intervener would do this through an interview, or direct inquiry with a party on the facts as the party sees them, along with the party’s feelings about those facts.
Whenever possible, the intervener will conduct an interview with each of the parties as the primary method of gathering information.
In the interview, the intervener will focus on the facts and the perception of facts in the conflict. While these two concepts sound similar, there is actually a big difference between them.
Facts are anything definable, actual, and verifiable, such as a statement in a newspaper that an event occurred on a particular date.
Conversely, a perception of facts is how a party feels about different aspects of a conflict, such as the motivations or intentions.
The intervener will want to collect information on both the facts and perception of facts, and there are a variety of sequential questions that they can use to do this.
Concept | Question | Examples in Conflict |
---|---|---|
Fact |
Who What Where When |
Who is involved in the conflict? What happened to initiate and/or escalate the conflict? Where did this happen? When did this happen? |
Perception of Facts |
Why How |
Why do you think this happened? How do you think the conflict reached this point? |
First, who, what, where, and when are four basic question words that can provide factual information about an event.
Next, using the question words why and how can allow you to get at the party’s perception of the facts you learned in the first step.
When you as an intervener are discussing perceptions, interests, and feelings, it's important to use your active listening skills in order to help the person speak comfortably about those topics.
This is because the conversation is going to involve more than yes/no or short answers to your questions, and active listening requires that you listen not only for factual statements but for underlying emotion as well.
As you learned in a previous lesson, there are three main active listening skills:
As you know, this process is confidential; when you conduct interviews separately with the various parties, you want to make it clear that what you learn from each party will not be shared with the other parties.
The only time sharing would happen is if there was an agreement up front about it, such as an understanding that some of this information was going to be released publicly for a report.
In some instances, that type of agreement might be in place, and the confidentiality would be waived. Confidentiality also applies to any people who are not directly involved in the conflict but who you might be directed to speak to. Maybe they are not parties in the conflict, but they have information about the context, and some other factors that you need to uncover in the conflict analysis process. Maintaining confidentiality with those parties as well is critical to the whole process.
Source: Adapted from Sophia tutorial by Marlene Johnson.