Clingendael hosted the first four-day humanitarian negotiations training of the year with participants working in Iraq, Syria, Ethiopia, Jordan, Palestinian territories, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Spain, The Netherlands, Pakistan, Bangladesh. A great diversity of participants, representing a range of UN agencies and (i)NGOs.

All the participants are engaged in negotiations on a daily basis throughout their humanitarian work. For most of them, however, this was the first time they received a training on negotiation skills. In our foundation course, we therefore focus on equipping participants with a set of tools which allows them to better analyse a situation they find themselves in and to make more conscious choices on how to negotiate. This training provided an opportunity for them to analyse what they have been doing all along, learn what they can change or improve when negotiating and which tools and techniques they can use.

"There is no such thing as a perfect negotiation."

We do not provide a blue print for the “perfect negotiation”, since there is no such thing as a perfect negotiation. Instead, participants learn through simulations and role play to put into practice these tools and techniques to better deal with their daily challenges.

The training was a success. The participants expressed their gratitude for the training and more importantly expressed their eagerness to continue learning about negotiation. Also, it provided an opportunity to share experiences from the field, as they all work as humanitarian aid workers in different context and countries.

We would like to thank all participants for their active engagements. The group atmosphere, the critical questions, and the self-reflection capacity stimulated not only their own learning process, but also of their fellow participants. We hope they can share what they have learned with their colleagues and their organisations.

We provide similar negotiation skills courses throughout the year. Please find more information on our humanitarian negotiation page.