Training Report on Conflict Resolution / Management

Sustainable Forest Management

Project

Training Report on Conflict

Resolution / Management
29 – 30 March 2018

Fayaz Muhammad

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 Training Report on Conflict Resolution / Management

Introduction:

Under the auspices of ‘Sustainable Forest Management Project’ by United Nations

Development Programme (UNDP), a two-day training workshop, titled, ‘Conflict
Resolution / Management’ was arranged for the officials of Forest Department,
Wildlife Department and representatives of village development committees
(VDCs).

Day 01:

1. Formal Interaction:

a. Recitation from the Holy Quran:

Soon after the registration of the participants, a volunteer participant recited
a few versus from the Holy Quran.

b. Introduction of Participants:
Soon after the recitation, the participants introduced themselves along with a
short background of their existing responsibilities.

c. Participants Expectations from the Workshop:

The participants shared their expectations regarding the workshop and said
that they are expecting to learn new approaches and techniques towards
conflict resolution / management.

d. Pre Training Evaluation:

A pre Training Evaluation was conducted to know the existing
understanding of the participants regarding the conflict resolution /
management.

e. Sharing Training Agenda and Training Design:

The participants were briefed about the training agenda and training design.
During the initial discussion, it was agreed upon to ensure maximum
participation, the mode of discussion will be Urdu. It was also agreed upon

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that participatory approach will be adopted and experience sharing and

lessons learnt from the field would be appreciated and encouraged.

f. Settings Norms for the Workshop:

Before formal commencement of the workshop, some norms were set-forth
for the two-day training workshop, which included that timings of the
workshop will be followed strictly, cell phones would be kept switched-off,
one person will speak at one time and no criticism for the sake of criticism
along with provision of equal opportunities for experience sharing.

Session 02 (Post Tea Break Session):

Basic Concepts of Conflict:

Soon after the tea break, the training was formally kicked-0ff. The proceedings are
as follows.

a. What is conflict:
During the discussion, various definitions of conflict were discussed. A few
of the discussed definitions included
“A situation in which someone believes that his / her own needs have been
denied”,
“Conflict as a disagreement through which the parties involved perceive a
threat to their needs, interests or concerns”
and
“It is a process that begins when one party or a person perceives that another
party or a person has negatively affected or is about to negatively affect
something that the first party cares about”.
During the discussion, the participants also shared their field experiences
and explained several scenarios, wherein, how come two or more parties feel
deprived and believe that their rights are being violated.

b. Types of Conflict:
The major two different types of conflict include;
• Functional
Support the goals of the groups and improves its performance

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 Training Report on Conflict Resolution / Management

• Dysfunctional
Conflict that hinders group performance
Both the types of conflict were discussed in length and were further
elaborated with the help of examples. The participants also shared their field
experiences, wherein they explained that most of the time, being associated
with forestry; they are confronted with dysfunctional conflict. The
participants informed that most of the times, within the group, a few of less
than that even, start believing that are not properly heard and thus creates a
conflict like situation.

c. Level of Conflicts:
The level of conflicts includes;
 Individual level:
It was explained in detail that how an individual is confronted within several
conflicts within himself / herself, based on his / her desires, goals, resources
and opportunities. It has been observed that most of the times, some
unavoidable barriers hinder towards the desired goal and thus creates a
conflict within the individual itself.
 Interpersonal Conflicts:
It was explained in detail that how at times two or more than two people
develop differences mostly due to perceptions only.
In such circumstances, it is
mostly due to the conflict
between the personality of the
person and the role of the
person.
 Group or Organizational Level:
During the discussion, it was
elaborated that how a conflict
arises within a group. It was
elaborated with the help of real life examples, that how persons within the
group develops conflict. The participants explained that most of the time,
during the conservation committee formation, a group of people or a couple

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of individuals feels that they are not heard properly and thus develop a
conflict within the conflict.

d. Conflict Resolution:
During the discussion, it was elaborated that what is conflict resolution? The
participants also shared their experiences of conflict resolution, which,
according to them, is one of their day to day assignments. A definition
unanimously agreed upon was,
“Conflict Resolution is a range of processes aimed at alleviating or
eliminating sources of conflict. The term conflict resolution is sometimes
used interchangeably with the term dispute resolution or alternative dispute
resolution”.
During the discussion, the participants showed their keen interest in the topic
and said that conflict resolution is one of their basic requirements of their
day to day office life, where in they are confronted with numerous conflicts
ranging from petty to major and most of which needs, immediate and
amicable resolution. According to them, at times, the delay is more
dangerous than the existing severity of the conflict, thus, they try their level
best to resolve the conflict as soon as possible.
With the help of visual aids, the participants were briefed about the conflict
resolution process and various steps / processes involved in it.

e. Tools at Community Level:

Various approaches are being adopted at community level towards conflict
resolution, which includes;
 Arbitration:
This is a true form of alternate dispute resolution, which is also weighted by
the legal practitioners as well as the courts. During this process, most of the
times, the courts also provide an opportunity to both the parties to settle their
conflicts outside the court.
At community level, this form of conflict resolution is one of the most
acceptable tools of conflict resolution, due to its legal binding.
 Mediation:

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It is another form of conflict resolutions, which is the modified and

modernize form of Jirga, which used to be one of the basic and only tool
during the ancient as well as the recent-past.
In mediation, an individual or a group of individuals listens to both the
parties one by one and through a process of dialogue, tries to find out an
acceptable solution towards the conflict. The participants informed that this
form of conflict resolution is the most popular one in their respective
communities.

 Negotiation:
It is a process of dialogue between the two aggrieved parties, which is
intended to envisage a peaceful and acceptable solution to the conflict.
There is a slight difference between Mediation and Negotiation. In
Mediation, it is not necessary to find-out a win-win situation for both the
parties, whereas, in Negotiation, a win-win situation for both the parties is
dig-out.
The participants said that like all other communities, during any conflict,
their community also intends to resolve the conflict through negotiation, but
at times, it is not feasible and mediation is adopted.

Session 03: (Post Lunch Session):

Mapping Conflicts on Natural Resources:

During this session, the participants were divided into four (04) groups,
wherein they were asked to do their group work on the following.

 What are the existing conflicts?

 What are the potential conflicts?
 Who are the stakeholders?
 Position of Stakeholders.
 Possible options for solution.

All the four (04) groups were required to do their group work and present it
accordingly.

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Consolidated Findings of the Groups:

According to the group members, the existing conflicts in their community
includes;
Conflict over road construction in Bagar village between the two
neighboring villages,
Conflict over cutting of fire-wood between forest department and the local
inhabitants,
Conflict over Grazing / Grass Cutting.
Stakeholders of the above conflicts includes owners, landlords, C&W
Department and District Administration, Forest Department, Federal
Government, Wildlife Department, Users and International NGOs.
Position of Stakeholders, according to the group is as follows.
All the stakeholders are of key importance and cannot be by-passed.
However, the forest department, being the lead department for the
community, needs to play an active role.
Possible Options, according to the group members includes;
In the road construction conflict, the recommended approach is negotiation
process towards finding-out a peaceful solution.
Preparation of policy for sustainability of forests along with fulfilling the
needs of the inhabitants (e.g provision of alternate sources of energy etc).
Scientific range management through alternate mode of grazing and
awareness raising among the community for its sustainability.

During the presentation of group

works, the participants showed
their keen interest and discussed
in detail the existing issues and
their possible approaches
towards conflict resolution.
The participants enjoyed their
group work and said that this was
one of the most productive
sessions of the day, as they never
had been provided with an
opportunity of interacting in a
group towards conflict resolution.

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Session 04: (Post Tea Break Session):

This session was conducted in plenary and participants were encourages to

share their feelings and thoughts.
In first instances the types of natural resources were enlisted with the
participation of the training participants. The following natural resources
were identified relevant to the project area.

 Forests (Guzara & Reserve Forests

 Pastures
 Wildlife
 Water

The existing conflicts in Reserve forest identified were

 Conflicts on boundaries of Reserve Forest & Guzara forests

 Conflicts on boundaries with Reserve Forest & private ownership
 Conflict on ownership with Forest department

Conflicts in Guzara Forest identified were;

 Conflict on boundaries with Reserve Forests

 Ownership issues among owners
 Conflicts with FD on issuance of permit

Conflicts in Pastures were identified as;

Declaration of pastures as National parks

Conflict between users & owners on taxes and on use rights
Ownership conflict within community members, with Wildlife department
Sale & purchase of pastures

Conflicts related to Wildlife were;

Human-Wildlife Conflict. Habitat degradation resulting into food/space

shortage resulting into damage to livestock/crops and thus killing of wildlife.

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Potential Conflicts

on imported timber will create a severe issue and will put tremendous
pressure on existing forests

The causes of the conflicts were identified as

 Scarcity of land
 Increased value of land
 Need of firewood
 Law enforcement issues

The following suggestions for resolution of conflicts were identified;

 Use of Local Jirga System

 Boundaries demarcation with latest technology and under the supervision of
broad based committee representing all stakeholders
 Transparent policy implementation in issuance of permits and other
decisions
 Training of communities in peaceful coexistence with wildlife.

Day 02:

Review of Day 01:

A volunteer among the participants facilitated the recap of day 01.

Session 05:

Conflict management/Resolution

Managing and Resolving conflicts: (The Process and Strategies)

Conflict management / resolution is conceptualized as the methods and

processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict.
During the discussion, the participants shared their experiences and said that
conflict management / resolution is a lengthy and laborious process and at
times, it takes months to resolve several conflicts. Quoting an example of a
conflict between the community and forest department over fire-wood in a

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village in Siran valley, one of the participants said that the conflict remained
continued for almost three years. During this time, a number of attempts
were being made by several individuals to amicably resolve but to no avail.
The conflict between both the parties got resolved with the active
participation of the elected representatives, who paved the way for the
peaceful and acceptable solution of the conflict.

Strategies in Conflict Resolution:

During a detailed discussion, the participants were briefed upon various
strategies in conflict resolution, which are as follows. The participants were
briefed about the 3C and 2A methodology, which includes Compromising,
Collaboration, Competition, Accommodation and Avoidance.
• Compromising strategy typically calls for both sides of a conflict to give up
elements of their position in order to establish an acceptable, if not
agreeable, solution. This strategy prevails most often in conflicts where the
parties hold approximately equivalent power. 
During the discussion with the participants, the participants informed that it
is one of the mostly adopted approaches especially, when one of the parties
is more powerful than the other. Normally, the party with limited resources
opts for compromising.
• Collaboration works by integrating ideas set out by multiple people. The
object is to find a creative solution acceptable to everyone. Collaboration,
though useful, calls for a significant time commitment yet not appropriate to
all conflicts.
During the discussion, it was elaborated that during this process, a group of
individuals work for the conflict resolution. As obvious from the
explanation, this process is time consuming and may not be very appropriate
at times, especially, where the conflict resolution is time bound and needs
immediate solution.
• Competition operates as a zero-sum game, in which one side wins and other
loses. Highly assertive personalities often fall back on competition as a
conflict management strategy. The competitive strategy works best in a
limited number of conflicts, such as emergency situations. 
• Accommodation is the anti of competition where cooperation is high and
boldness is low. This strategy is valuable when it is important to relax the
other party.
• Avoidance, The avoidance strategy seeks to put off conflict indefinitely. By
delaying or ignoring the conflict, the avoider hopes the problem resolves
itself without a confrontation.

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Session 06 (post Tea Break Session):

Grievance Redressal Mechanism

What is Grievance Redressal Mechanism?

A set of procedures and resources within the organization to receive and
address concerns about the impact of their policies, programs, services and
operations on external stakeholders is called Grievance Redressal
Mechanism.

Purpose of Grievance Redressal Mechanism:

Grievance Redressal Mechanism act as an option for situations in which,
despite proactive stakeholder engagement, some stakeholders have a concern
about the impacts of a project, program or service delivery on them.

Principles of Grievance Redressal Mechanism:

Legitimate: Accountability for ensuring that the parties to a grievance
process cannot interfere. The free and fair process is the most important
factor in building stakeholder’s trust.
Accessible: The GRM needs to be accessible to every stakeholder. All the
barriers including lack of awareness of the mechanism, language, literacy,
costs, physical location and fears of retaliation needs to be avoided.
Predictable: The GRM must have clear and well-known procedures with
defined timeframe for each stage and clarity on types of processes and its
outcome along with the means of monitoring.
Equitable: The GRM should be equitable by absorbing all sorts of external
and internal pressures to ensure that both the aggrieved parties are treated
equally.
Transparent: A transparent mechanism free from all sorts of internal and
external pressures is needed for an ideal GRM.
Rights compatible: These processes are generally more successful when all
parties agree that outcomes are consistent with applicable national and
Enabling continuous learning: An ideal GRM should be flexible enough to
accommodate all the lessons learnt and experiences shared. Regular analysis
frequency, patterns, causes of grievances, strategies and processes used for
grievance resolution can enable the administering institution to improve its
policies, procedures and practices. internationally recognized rights.
Regardless of its outcome, utmost care should be taken that they are
consistent.

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Based on engagement and dialogue: Consulting all the stakeholder groups

for the purpose of rectification and improvement is vital for an effective
GRM. Regular engagement with stakeholders and dialogue ensures it.

Design of a typical Grievance Redressal Mechanism:

• Receive and register grievance through maximum Options (walk in,
phone, email, sms, fax, letter etc).
• Scrutiny of Complaints (Jurisdiction, area of interest etc)
• Assigning Complaint to the most relevant official
• Two Way Communication with Complainant primarily in three ways
• Direct action to resolve the complaint, Further assessment for
acquiring detailed information, Classification of the complaint
• Sharing the outcome with the complainant
• Data analysis for future interventions

Session 07 (post Lunch Break Session):

Group Work on Existing Grievance Redressal Mechanism

At the start of the session, all the participants were divided into four (04)
groups for carrying out their group work on existing grievance redressal
mechanism.
All the groups were assigned to
conduct their group work on the
existing grievance redressal
mechanism in their respective areas
of operation along with proposing
an ideal grievance redressal
mechanism for their areas of
operation.
After the group work, all the groups presented their group work and
underlined the need of an effective grievance redressal mechanism both at
department and community level.

Post Training Evaluation:

A post Training Evaluation was conducted to know the outcome of the
training by gauging the change being recorded in comparison with the Pre-
Training Evaluation Report.

Closing Ceremony:
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Mr. Tauheed ul Haq, Deputy Chief Conservator, Forest Department was the
chief guest for the closing ceremony.
During his speech, he thanked the
management of Sustainable Forest
Management Project, whose efforts,
according to him are vital for the
sustainability, thus paving the way
towards a healthy life not only for
the nearby inhabitants but also for
the society at large.
Speaking on the occasion, the Project
Manager of Sustainable Forest Management Project, Muhammad Faiq Khan
said that in future, more training will be arranged for the officials to further
enhance their capacities. He also thanked the chief guest and participants for
their valuable time.
In the end, the chief guest distributed certificates among the training
participants.

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List of Participants:

S. No Name of Participant Designation

1 Asif Ali Shah SDFO
2 Ishtiaq Ullah SDWO
3 Fayaz Ali Khan Publicity Officer Extension
Wildlife Division
4 Akhlaq Ahmad Range Officer,
Lullusar National Park
5 Haroon Rashid Tourism Coordinator
6 Abdul Basit SMNP
7 Syed Taimur Ali Shah DFO Wildlife Mansehra
8 Zakir Hussain Shah DFO P&D, Forest Deparrtment
9 Muhammad Riaz DFO Siran, Wildlife Department
10 Ijaz Qadir DFO Kaghan, Wildlife
Department
11 Saddam Hussain Community Worker
12 Ayaz Hussain Office Secretary
13 Sardar Kalu Khan President, VDC
14 Shaukat Hussain General Secretary, VDC
15 Zahid Muhammad SDFO, Upper Siran
16 Ayaz Ali Shah SDFO, Upper Siran
17 Amin Ul Islam SDFO, Mansehra
18 Shehryar Khan Chairman, VDC
19 Adeel Zaib General Secretary, VDC
20 Amir Muhammad Member, VDC
21 Munsif Ali SDFO
22 Suleman Khan SDFO, Kaghan
23 Muhammad Arif DFO FP&M
24 Zobia Gul Deputy Director
25 Muhammad Sarmad SDFO

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