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Who we are

Promediation is a French non-profit organization of professional mediators and experts in the field of mediation and negotiation. Promediation professionals couple high-quality competence in mediation and negotiation with field experience in Africa. Promediation is small and flexible, with a great capacity for adaptation to fast-changing political contexts. We believe adaptability and discretion – the proven capacity to ensure confidentiality of the peace process we support – are key pillars of our work.

Background

Promediation, initially created in 2001 to bring together French-speaking negotiation practitioners and promote experience sharing amongst them, has gradually become a support tool for mediation initiatives and peace processes in Africa. Promediation relies on a network of diplomats and executives trained throughout the years and networks developed by its members during their involvement with mediation frameworks.

Promediation’s missions in peace processes

Besides teaching, training and participation in research initiatives, Promediation develops projects of:
– Conflict prevention and management, through fieldwork with relevant actors;
– Political and armed conflict resolution through dialogue facilitation, mediation, or peace process support.
One of our key aims is to bring together the necessary conditions to go from the military phase of a conflict to the negotiation phase. These missions usually take place in support of existing mediation, at a state or regional level.
According to the context, we provide support to the parties during the negotiations or during the implementation of an agreement, should one be reached. We can also be involved in the facilitation of a negotiation process or in a mediation at the parties’ request. We also support the creation of spaces to reflect and exchange views in the search for solutions that are durable and acceptable by all in the framework of supporting action towards conflict prevention or conflict resolution.
Promediation also assists its members in terms of negotiation or facilitation in crisis situations, such as in Africa or the Middle East.

Promediation, a specific approach to conflict management

  • The ability to act in a fast, versatile and discreet way and to adapt to varied and evolving contexts;
  • Independence, which translates into a commitment to the success of a process rather than the promotion of one of the parties’ interests, and therefore guarantees our credibility and impartiality towards the different actors involved;
  • Confidentiality, when required by the process or actors involved;
  • The ability to coordinate with state and non-state actors involved in the same political arenas;
  • A particular importance given to context in the preparation of Promediation’s deployment by bringing together all available competence, such as that of academics and practitionners, in order to act efficiently with political and armed actors, develop trust, participate in forming an in-depth understanding of conflict situations and in the search for solutions.

Promediation, a professional network

Professionals with more than 20 years of experience in diplomacy, peace-making efforts and peace building in North and Western Africa supervise the projects, ensuring high-quality analysis of the situation and of the key stakeholders, providing contacts and building trust with all actors involved.

The Promediation team can rely on a network of direct contacts, ranging from local community, religious and political leaders of the Sahelo-Saharian strip to high-level international stakeholders and representatives of international organizations in Africa.

Promediation has also developed an extensive capacity to bring in high-profile expertise from all over the world according to the needs of the parties and of the processes in order to make progress. This includes international experts in the field of mediation or in specific phases of the negotiation process (cease-fire, consultation process, constitution design, implementation and evaluation, etc.), as well as academics and professionals with unique knowledge in relevant fields. Promediation can therefore draw upon their expertise in international law and governance, but also on targeted zones, their history, their institutions and relations patterns in the Sahel-Saharan strip (how populations interact in a given social, economic and political context, along with specific geographic areas).