Finals for CPM’s 2^nd Interuniversity Competition in Mediation

Under the patronage of the Lebanese Ministry for Culture the Centre Professionnel de Médiation (CPM) of the University Sait-Joseph (USJ) organised in close cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung a competition in mediation and conflict resolution where student groups show their acquired mediation skills on the basis of fictitious cases.

With the support of the French L’Agence universitaire de la Francophonie au Moyen-Orient (AUF) and UNESCO’s regional office to Beirut FES and CPM set out already for the second time to organise this race to the interuniversity trophy. What started as a training for interested students already in 2015 at the USJ turned last year into a competition between several Lebanese universities stretching from North to South. While last year only teams of four universities took part this year their share was doubled to nine and in total 20 teams comprising 49 students registered. Besides that, the teams could for the first time choose whether they wanted to compete in French or Arabic.

It is the promotion of non-violent conflict resolution as well as the capability to understand and honour the needs of an opposing party that we hope we could advance among these young students. Their dedication and eagerness to learn gives us hope and a good reason to go on with this competition in 2019, too.