In any democratic society, a major role of parliamentarians is to act as a "national conflict resolution forum."  Nowhere is this more important then in conflict-troubled countries such as Pakistan.  Parliaments institutionalize a non-violent means of addressing conflict, and are designed to include all sectors of society reflecting the divergent views of the populace. They are thus able to contribute to peace building and conflict prevention by helping create consensus around commonly held values and goals.

This "people's institution" needs to be constantly nurtured and strengthened, making it more receptive to collaborative approaches and solutions. Given the great responsibility parliamentarians possess, it is critical that they strive to work across party lines, searching for common interests and possible compromise approaches in order both to represent their constituents faithfully and to advance the common good.

Thus, at the request of the Pakistani Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency (PILDAT), USIP Senior Program Officer Nina Sughrue conducted a workshop for women parliamentarians and politicians on "Conflict Management and Negotiation Styles" on August 7, 2006 in Islamabad. This was the first workshop that USIP's Education and Training Center/International (ETC/I)  conducted in Pakistan. The twenty-five participants represented all the major political parties in Pakistan, including Pakistan Muslim League (PML), Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People´s Party Parliamentarian (PPPP), Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), Mutahida Majlas-e-Aamal Pakistan (MMAP), and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The workshop highlighted negotiating skills in managing and resolving differences, and the ability to understand one´s own and the other party´s positions and interests in the negotiation process. The participants evinced a keen appreciation, and actively participated in the group discussions and self-assessment sessions as well as a series of negotiation simulation exercises.

Due to the high level of praise and requests for additional training on this subject, PILDAT was committed to developing a broader program to train parliamentarians throughout the country on conflict management.  They received a grant to do so from the British High Commission, Islamabad through the UK's Strategic Priority Fund.

The project is aimed at building conflict resolution capabilities of Members and relevant staff from the National and Provincial Assemblies (Punjab and Sindh), Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and political party youth groups.  Ms. Sughrue will conduct the training for the National, Sindh and Punjab Assemblies.

The first part of the project was conducted on February 24th and 26th 2009 in Islamabad and Karachi.  In Islamabad on February 24th the participants included 35 National Assembly Members, half of whom were parliamentarians and the other half were youth representatives.  Members of the national assembly as well as the senate were represented. The parties represented were: the PPP, Awami National Party (ANP), MQM, PML-N, PML, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and several independents.  The youth representatives included participants from: Youth Force, Insaf Student Federation Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Peoples Student Federation, Sherpao Force Islamabad, Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam, Jamiat Tulba-e-Islam, Pushtoon Council for Youth Affairs, Shabab-e-Milli, Youth Wing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, and the Youth Wing PML-q. 

The second program, which was for Sindh Assembly Members conducted at the Sindh Assembly in Karachi on February 26th had 45 participants including eight members of the press.  The session consisted mostly of PPP members (Sindh is the stronghold of the PPP party), but there were also members from the ANP, MQM and PML parties.  The media outlets represented were from Dawn News TV, Dunya News TV, ARY 1 World TV, PTV News, Royal TV, Sindh TV and Daily Indus Post.  The members of the youth parliament consisted of the youth parliament Pakistan 2007 and 2008-2009.

Both one-day sessions included modules on conflict styles (self assessment of how each participant reacts to conflict, the pro and cons of each individual style and how most effectively to use your style depending on the situation) and negotiation techniques (from finding common interests to gaining consensus agreement).  Practical exercises emphasizing collaborative problem solving was also included in both sessions.

Participants in both sessions strongly praised the workshop and stated that conflict resolution techniques are so important for them that they suggested a three to four day workshop on the topic.

The next two sessions will be held in mid summer for additional National Assembly Members in Islamabad and for Punjab Assembly Members in Lahore.  Collaborative problem solving will be emphasized.  We will also explore options to conduct a longer training session with the National Assembly Members ideally outside of Islamabad in order for the participants to fully focus on the training and not be distracted by mundane work events.