DRF Celebrating 30 Years Of Promoting Mediation And Conflict Resolution

July is, this year, being observed as Dispute Resolution Month in commemoration of three decades of work undertaken by the Dispute Resolution Foundation (DRF).

Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, declared the Month in a Proclamation read and presented to representatives of the Foundation during a courtesy call at King’s House.

The DRF, which officially celebrated its 30th anniversary on July 11, has been pivotal in advancing mediation and conflict resolution services in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.

It was co-founded by the Jamaica Bar Association, Judiciary, Private Sector and other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), with initial funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and support from the Government of Jamaica and Capital University Law and Graduate Centre.

The DRF was officially incorporated under the Company’s Act in 1994, with the primary goal of facilitating effective dispute resolution locally and regionally.

Board Chairman, John Bassie, says the Foundation’s work has impacted major sectors across the society.

“It started off looking at mediation and how it could assist persons. We’ve actually grown to touch all sectors, from schools to businesses, the judiciary, communities and also the private sector,” he points out.

Mr. Bassie tells JIS News that the DRF has been working to educate Jamaicans on the options available outside the court system for conflict resolution.

“[We are] saying there’s another way other than running straight into court and dealing with disputes,” he says.

Mr. Bassie says the DRF is the oldest alternative dispute resolution (ADR) organisation in the region.

“What we’ve got is volumes of knowledge and experience that [developed] countries… don’t have. So as they move towards ADR, they look towards us and ask ‘hey, how is it working for you?’… and we’re not hiding anything. We learned some hard lessons… we’re willing to share with anybody who wants to listen. Dispute resolution, again, it’s not something we’re trying to keep, it’s something we spread,” he points out.

The DRF has established a successful model of dispute resolution widely used in other areas of the world.

The Foundation has also been instrumental in the advocacy, design and implementation of ‘Mediation First’ programmes for courts locally and regionally, and continues to serve as a prominent mediation training and practice agency.

Mr. Bassie says activities under the Mediation First Programme have been increased, noting its engagement in the High and Parish Courts.

“We’ve partnered with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of National Security. This increase means, basically, anybody who goes to the parish court and wants to access mediation, they can get it, even if they can’t afford it,” he informs.

DRF Founder and former Chief Executive Officer, Donna Parchment Brown, commends the entity on its tremendous contribution towards furthering the use of ADR methods in Jamaica.

“We have seen remediation being integrated into a number of workplaces, schools and other spaces, and this has meant that people with conflicts have been able to turn to a trained, qualified person to intervene and assist them to discuss their problems and arrive at a solution satisfactory to all those involved,” she says.

“This has indeed marked a change in the way we deal with conflicts in Jamaica. But [what] I would like to see [over] the next 30 years [is] that, what we have started with, the training of Justices of the Peace (JPs), police officers, educators, Attorneys-at-Law and others, that this would be normalised so that all Jamaicans and, indeed, people across the Caribbean can become aware of alternative dispute resolution, in particular mediation and arbitration,” Mrs. Parchment Brown adds.

With the focus of the DRF over the long-term centered on making access to ADR methods more accessible to Jamaicans at all levels of society, Mr. Bassie says work will be done to increase the intervention’s use in schools.

“We believe that access to justice is a right. There are some things that are clogging up the system that don’t need to be there, and mediation can be a solution to that. We’re also looking to see how best we can assist with… disaster preparedness and various agencies, that when a crisis hits, we have are specially trained mediators who are ready and willing to jump in at a moment’s notice to assist,” he adds.

To date, the DRF has trained over 10,000 individuals in mediation and conflict resolution, including Custodes and JPs.

It remains committed to facilitating private and court-annexed mediation through over 600 trained and gazetted mediators.

For more information on the DRF’s work, persons can visit the entity’s website at www.drfja.org.