CSJP Partners With TVJ to Promote Mediation

The Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) III has partnered with Television Jamaica (TVJ) and Future Services Ltd. for an entertaining new reality TV series to start airing in May, which will focus on the use of mediation to resolve conflicts.

Promotional advertisements for the programme, dubbed ‘Let’s Make Peace’, have started airing, and it promises to be as informative and transformative as it is entertaining.

Communications/Social Marketing Specialist with the CSJP III, Patrice Nephew, told JIS News that the show will feature conflicting parties. The grievances will be discussed in the presence of trained mediators, and team-building activities will be conducted. After going through the mediation process, the aggrieved party will indicate whether peace has been made.

“This is an innovative way of exemplifying peace-building techniques, so the show actually brings to life common experiences of Jamaicans, and even with some entertainment value, the bigger picture is to enable persons to resolve their differences,” Mrs. Nephew said.

She noted that CSJP III decided to partner with TVJ and Future Services Ltd., producers of the successful show, The Innovators, because it is in line with the programme’s mandate to invest in activities that promote peace-building. She said it will also resonate well with and be relevant to their target population.

Further, Mrs. Nephew noted that Let’s Make Peace will be an opportunity to promote the work and services of the CSJP III. She said mediation services at the community and institutional levels fall under both Components One and Three of the programme.

“We also think that many times when people are unable to resolve differences, it is because there is a need for other types of support, some of which the CSJP III offers, such as psychological services and counselling,” she added.

Personnel from the Dispute Resolution Foundation, funded by the CSJP III, will also be used in the show.

“Overall, investing in and partnering with this programme will equate to safer communities, because when persons can adequately and amicably resolve conflicts, we will have peaceful communities and a more peaceful Jamaica,” Mrs. Nephew said.