Fw: Colombia

[Peggy Holman, Open Space Institute (US)]

ColombiaFriends,

I have been talking with Pablo Restrepo, who is planning an Open Space gathering on reconceiving Columbia's negotiation process.  I have 2 requests from this list on his behalf.  The first is to provide him feedback on his proposal.  His description follows his message.  You are welcome to send responses directly to him at prestrepo at tandemadr.com or if you'd like to share your thoughts with the list, I will forward them on.

In addition, he is looking for an experienced OS practitioner from Europe, Asia or the Middle East to work with them.  If you're interested, please contact Pablo directly.

Thanks,
Peggy


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Pablo Restrepo TANDEM 
To: Peggy Holman, Open Space Institute (US) ; Peggy Holman, Open Space Institute (US) 
Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 10:21 AM
Subject: Colombia


Dear Peggy:  Sorry for the silence during this last days, we were working hard in presenting the  proposal to possible sponsors, in fact, it went very well.  The idea is to do the event in Costa Rica, July 15th-17th.  Most people agree that for reasons of safety and to allow some actors to participate, we could not do OST in Colombia.  They also think that it is better to have a co facilitator that is not from the USA, maybe someone from Europe, Asia or the Middle East.  I am sending you the description of the project in English to get your feedback and also to publish it the the OST bulletin board.  It would be also great to contact the people in Israel, I got the address of those in India so I will write to them directly.  Best regards, and thanks again for your help.  Pablo


Pablo Restrepo

TANDEM Alternative Dispute Resolution

Address:  Avenida 82 #7-22, Oficina 304, Bogotá, Colombia
Tel:  (571)  296 7080 & 635 6330
Fax:  (571)  296 7081
Email: prestrepo at tandemadr.com
Webpage:  http://www.tandemadr.com 

Dina R. Jansenson
Address:  1 Liberty Plaza, Suite 3500, New York, NY 10006 (United States)
Tel:  (212) 233-9887
Fax:  (212) 964-9200
Email:  tandem at tandemadr.com
Webpage:  http://www.tandemadr.com 

Alfonso Rodríguez
Address:  Avenida 82 #7-22, Oficina 304, Bogotá, Colombia
Tel:  (571)  296 7080 & 635 6330
Fax:  (571)  296 7081
Email: arodriguez at tandemadr.com
Webpage:  http://www.tandemadr.com 



What lessons can we derived from the late negotiation process, what will the next process be like, and what must be done to get there?

 

No one who has seriously analyzed the Colombian conflict thinks that the Colombian situation can be resolved exclusively through a military strategy. Even those who are the most favorable to war, acknowledge that the possible solutions will be found through decisive negotiation processes, in other words, the actors of the conflict will eventually have to sit down at the negotiation table, again. 

Talking about the failure of the process that President Pastrana begun would be an easy task; what is more, it would be easy to find guilty parties and identify responsibilities for its failure. However, this would be of little value for the construction of the next negotiation process. It is more important to draw from the lessons that can be derived from this effort of more than three years, so that the road to a next negotiation can be built, and a more effective process can be designed.

The Colombian conflict cannot be seen from a bilateral perspective, as it is not possible to reduce it to a negotiation between the government and the guerrilla. Neither can it be explained as a conventional multilateral negotiation, which includes many actors having linear relationships and links among them. For instance, one could say that this conflict concerns a negotiation between the government, the FARC, the AUC and the ELN, but this does not cover the whole range either; one could always add a new actor to each number of actors. Actually, the preliminary calculation shows that we are talking of at least thirty actors among those direct and indirect agents having a relevant impact on the situation (see list below). The hypothesis is that the relations and links between these actors are non linear, which means that the conflict cannot be explained by a linear model. We are facing a "complex" conflict, a conflict with multi-linear relations and links; thus, the model of analysis must reproduce such a consideration.

On the other hand, external analysts to the conflict, both national and international, have done the majority of analyses of the Colombian conflict. Therefore, it would be of great value to have the actors themselves do this analysis; who knows the circumstances and understands the problem better than them?

With this in mind, this document concerns itself with an exercise, based on a complex model of analysis, in which the individuals representing all the actors are invited in order to produce a proposal that answers the question: What lessons can we derived from the late negotiation process, what will the next process be like, and what must be done to get there? The model to be used, Open Space Technology, allows the whole "system" (all the actors) to participate in the analysis and in the construction of the proposal.

OST is a methodology used to work with large groups (between 5 and 1.000 individuals). It allows the participants to produce a document that draws from and includes all the issues that concern the participants, their priorities and includes a detailed action plan. It is a methodology that enables all the attendants to deal with (all) the issues they are interested in, they feel passion for, and they want to be responsible for.

This project, led by Tandem a.d.r, an international organization of Colombian origin that is devoted to advising and training people and organizations in alternative conflict resolution methods, will be completed before the new president comes into office, probably a few days after the elections. The promoters will be individuals and organizations that are willing to fund this endeavor, but what is more important, that have the credibility to bring together all the individuals that are representatives of all the agents that comprise the "system" of the Colombian conflict.

 

List of actors:

 

·       The executive branch

·       The legislative branch

·       The judicial branch

·       The Armed Forces of Colombia

·       FARC, (Revolutionary Armed forces of Colombia)

·       AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia- paramilitary group)

·       ELN (National Liberation Army)

·       The media

·       The EmbassiCountries

·       DEA

·       FBI

·       CIA

·       United States Estate Department

·       Indigenous groups

·       African Colombians 

·       National and International Nongovernmental Organizations (NGO's) 

·       The European Community

·       Colombian Businessmen

·       Trade Unions

·       Presidential Candidates

·       National and International Universities

·       Intellectuals (artists, writers, etc).

·       The Civil Society

·       The Churches

·       Political Parties

·       The Youth's Organizations

·       Colombian Diasporas Abroad

·       Weapon Traders

·       Retired Individuals

·       Chemical Producers of Precursors

·       Women

·       Foreign Investors

·       Professional Associations

 

It is obvious, that due to different reasons not all the actors will participate in this exercise. But all of them must be invited. The most important thing is to create and open a space for interaction. Taking into account the limitations of some of the actors, especially the violent ones, this event is likely to take place abroad. The "space" where this event will occur must guarantee all the attendants security. This is essential for the exercise. Nevertheless, it is necessary to point out that the most important voices are those of the civil society, and that this project will be of great value even if not all the institutional or armed actors participate in it. 

An average of five to ten individuals representing each of the groups mentioned above will be invited. A number of attendants may be able to afford the transportation and hotel fees, but some among those who do not have the necessary means should be financially supported. Moreover, the costs of the convention center or hotel, the facilitators and other requirements will have to be covered by the financial sponsors.

The product of this project is a document presenting a proposal of how to construct the road towards the next negotiation and how this process will be designed in order to be feasible and legitimate.

 



 

Appendix 1: strategic considerations

 

To succeed, it is essential for the conveners to have the necessary luster and the capacity to attract all the basic actors into participating. For this reason, before committing to a group of sponsors, even if they are willing to fund the project, it is crucial to carefully design the "seed group" of conveners.

This "seed group" must have the ability to bring together actors representing the real "peace forces", in other words, political movements such as the "Visionary Party" of Mockus (Bogotá´s mayor); non-governmental organizations like the foundation for "the displaced, CODES, directed by Jorge Rojas; writers such as José Saramago; social leaders like Hernando Hernández from Ecopetrol (Colombian Public Oil Company); international leaders such as Comandante Marcos from Mexico and Lula from Brazil; national and international universities of great prestige, among others. It is fundamental that no one takes ownership of the process and changes it into a bureaucratic or flamboyant exercise. Furthermore, it is vital to create a strong motivation to attend the event and a high cost of not participating proactively.

In this way, once the "seed group" has been structured, it is important promote the event through national and international media to confer to it a high profile. 

As a last consideration, the process must occur after the elections, but before the new president comes into office. This would avoid its getting lost in the turmoil of elections and the risk of being used by some actors as a space for political proselytism. Anyhow, it must be done before August the seventh so the final document can be presented to the new President and its government as a source of reflection.

 



 

Appendix 2: about complex systems

 

The following description is Doctor Neil F. Johnson´s contribution; he is a professor of physics at Oxford University, in England, and an expert in the subject of complexity:

In large part due to the Cold War effect, traditional models of interaction/competition were 2-players (US and Russia). Following the work of Nash etc., people then began to generalize these models to more than 2players. However they did it in a very limited way, such that at any onetime there were only two players interacting with each other, or equivalently only two players who were currently linked. Then came the birth of Complex Systems analysis (which grew out of the more limited field of Chaos studies). In this, it was realized that in fact dealing with only two players is far too simple - and may even be very wrong. Three and above are different (two's company, three's a crowd). In fact, one can't even think of the limit of very large number of players (e.g. 1000) and hope that this reflects the true situation with, say, 30. What is happening is this: the "complexity" of any network of interacting agents/players/actors etc. is relatively simple for very large numbers, and very small numbers. For intermediate numbers it is truly "complex". In particular, when one adds in the fact that the linkages between actors may be changing in time, and more importantly, may be determined by the past history, then you have a system where "the sum is more than the parts", and their is a non-trivial dependence on the past history... this is by definition a "Complex System".

 So... place an intermediate number of actors in a situation where they are linked together in some way, with connections/linkages which may change with time and which are dependent on what has happened in the past, and you have a complex system network.... or a "small-world network" as it is known.

 



 

 

Appendix 3: open space technology

 

OST serves as a complex model of analysis, it enables work with large groups, between 5 and 1.000 people. OST is an appropriate model when a major issue must be resolved, particularly when a high level of complexity, high levels of uncertainty, a great diversity (in terms of people involved), the existence of a current or potential conflict, and the need of producing a decision or an answer as soon as possible characterizes the issues.

The principles and the law that govern an event (a process) of OST are[1]:

Whoever comes is the right people. This reminds people that it is not how many people or the position they hold that counts, rather it is their passion for the subject that is important. So what happens if nobody comes to your group?  Well, when was the last time you had the time to work on an idea you really cared about? Even a group of one works.

Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened. This is a reminder to let go of what might have been, should have been, or could have been.  It is in moments of surprise, large and small, that real learning an growth occur.

When it starts is the right time. Creativity and spirit don't happen according to the clock; they appear in their own time. Open Space merely reminds us that clocks are human-made constructs and have very little to do with the right time for things.

When it's over, it's over. This offers a marvelous way to save time and aggravation.  If you get together and it takes ten minutes to do what you wanted, congratulations! Move on and do something else. If, on the other hand, you find yourself deeply engaged in what you are doing, keep on doing it until your are finished.

The law of Two Feet (or the law of personal initiative) says to stand up for what you believe, and if you feel your are neither contributing nor learning where you are, use your two feet and go somewhere else. The law is fundamentally about personal responsibility. It makes it clear that the only person responsible for your experience is you.

OST is grounded on people's passion and responsibility. The only role of the facilitators is to "open" the space for a productive interaction between the participants, and to protect this space during the three days of work.

In an OST event the participants sit down on a circle (various concentric circles when there is a large group). The four principles and the law guide the participants in the process. At the beginning of the event, the facilitators invite all the attendants to identify the issues and ideas they feel a genuine passion for and those they are willing to be personally responsible for. When they have identified these issues and ideas, they head towards the circle's centre, where the facilitator are standing, they write down their issue or idea on a piece of paper, they announce it to the whole group and they stick the paper on the wall. When all the issues of interest to any one have been identified, the group is invited to walk towards the wall and to include their names in the workgroup in which issue they are interested. No matter how large the group, this process always takes a bit more than an hour.

>From that moment on, the groups manage themselves. As the process makes progress and the groups assemble and work together, each responsible produces a report of their activities (using the computers available for this). By the end of the three days, all the issues concerning any of the participants will have been discussed, the priorities for each issue will have been identified, the related issues will have converged, and the initial actions for each issue will have been decided. When leaving, each participant will have a written document with all the proceedings.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] The principles, the law and the description of OST were extracted from the manual Open Space Technology by Harrison Owen (with Anne Stadler).

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20020331/c81ab484/attachment-0016.htm>