Most conflict resolution efforts put the past to one side, searching for present interests. However, the past is never over, and historical grievance is ever available to stir up conflict even when present interests in cooperation are strong. Residual enmity and hatred are corrosive forces.

The Center’s methodology highlights the importance of narrative approach to communities’ shared histories. In training, we teach leaders how to work with stories connected to conflict and use them to find common ground. Talking through history helps establish lasting peace, but the dialogue process remains oriented towards the future. Keeping a concrete goal in mind helps keep the process going and minimizes moments wasted in arguments about “who did what to whom first.”

Addressing the conflicted past in a sensitive yet honest way opens a space for shared future in places where this is not otherwise possible.

 International Center for Conciliation (ICfC) is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization which aspires to create lasting peace in conflicted communities worldwide. It seeks to help divided communities unfold their painful past and construct a shared future that is peaceful, productive, and prosperous. ICfC has developed methodology that addresses the uneasy heritage of conflict through training, mediation, and participatory community development. We have worked to implement change and train people in historical conciliation in Israel, Cambodia, India, Japan and Korea, Western Europe, and the United States.

Visit us at www.centerforconciliation.org  for more information.