The Clingendael Humanitarian Negotiation Project was off to a strong start in 2022. In January and February three groups of humanitarians worked on their negotiation skills in intensive online trainings. Two foundation courses and one advanced course were successfully delivered.

During the foundation courses, 28 humanitarians from all over the world practiced basic negotiation skills, such as how to analyse your counterpart and how to use different negotiation styles. During the advanced course, alumni of previous foundation courses practiced how to break deadlocks, how to strategically use de-/escalating behavior during complex negotiations and how to create effective mandates to support negotiators in their work. A variety of exercises and simulations were used during the courses to practice with all of the above and to reflect on their own negotiation behaviour, the behavior of others and the negotiation process in general.

We are confident that they will put their new skills to good use in crisis contexts around the globe and wish them the best of luck for their future negotiations!