Academy
Training category
Humanitarian negotiation
Why training negotiation skills for humanitarian aid workers?
The work of humanitarian aid workers and the accompanied negotiations are crucial for delivering aid to those in need. The ability to effectively negotiate in stressful circumstances is a skill which is essential to every humanitarian worker: from the field-based aid worker negotiating access on the frontline to the manager in headquarters talking to donors and governments. The Clingendael Institute focuses 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.
Participants learn through simulations and role play to put into practice these tools and techniques to better deal with their daily challenges. At the same time, the training serves as a platform where humanitarian workers can exchange dilemmas and learn from each other’s experiences. Click here to read more about how we work.
About the training
We offer different negotiation skills training courses for humanitarian aid workers. Below you can find an overview of the different trainings. Under ‘Training’ you can find more detailed information about each training.
Foundation course
This training deals with the basics of negotiation.
- Face-to-face: a four-day training (in The Hague) or three-day training (in the region)
- Online: a five-day training
Courses for alumni of foundation course
- Advanced course: a three-day face to face training for participants who have taken part in the foundation course. It builds on the elements learnt during the foundation course & goes into more detailed negotiation situations such as deadlocks.
- E-negotiation: a two-day online training in e-negotiation.
Training of Trainers
Participants who have taken part in the foundation and advanced course will in the course of a week be prepared to deliver a two-day negotiation training to their colleagues.
Third Party Mediators
- Face-to-face: a five-day programme for local actors mediating negotiations in a humanitarian context
- Online: a three-day training in e-mediation
Tailor-made: if you are looking for a negotiation skills training for your organisation or consortium, please contact us.
Please scroll down to trainings for cases.
Language and costs
We deliver training courses in both English and French. The language of the training is indicated in the application form. Clingendael covers the training fees which means the trainings are free. Humanitarian organisations are expected to cover travel and accommodation costs of their participating staff. Financial assistance is available in some circumstances.
Facts & figures
The programme was established in 2016 with support from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign affairs. The training courses are offered both in The Hague as well as near conflict areas.
Since 2017, Clingendael Academy has organised over 30 training courses and trained over 450 humanitarian workers of 60+ (I)NGOs and UN agencies in essential negotiation skills. 5 sessions were in partnership with Dutch Relief Alliance. Over 50 working countries have been represented. Within two months, 80% were using the techniques in their negotiations.
94% of respondents of all participants in 2017 and 2018 have said they found this training to be useful or very useful for their work. The percentage of participants who felt confident to lead a negotiation process went up from 51% to 81%.
Check out our result and impact map 2018-2019.
Clingendael's results between October 2018 and October 2019 are mentioned in the Dutch Development Results 2019 under the themes Security and rule of Law and Humanitarian aid.
Activities 2020
We keep adding new training opportunities throughout the year. Some of our trainings are invitation only, or target humanitarian aid workers from specific countries, so keep that in mind while applying. After the deadline has been closed, our experts look at all the applications and make a selection of participants who seem most fit to take part in the programme. The training courses are delivered in English and French.
Stay up to date about our new courses. Register for our email alert. You will receive an e-mail once we have an ‘open registration’ course coming up.
| Dates 2020 | Activity | Days | Location | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28-31 Jan | Foundation Course - Negotiation Skills Training | 4 | The Hague | Full |
| 11-13 Feb | Negotiation Skills Training for Humanitarian Aid workers | 3 | Pasto, Colombia | Invitation only |
| 25-27 Feb |
Negotiation Skills Training for Humanitarian Aid workers Only participants working in Afghanistan and/or Pakistan |
3 | Doha, Qatar | Full |
| 9-13 Mar | Training of Trainers | 5 | The Hague | Cancelled |
| 24-26 Mar | Negotiation Skills Training for Humanitarian Aid workers | 3 | Beirut, Libanon | Cancelled |
| 15-19 Jun | Negotiation Skills Training for Humanitarian Aid workers | 3 | Online | Full |
| 6-10 Jul | Negotiation Skills Training for Humanitarian Aid workers | 3 | Online | Full |
| 20-24 Sept | Negotiation Skills Training for Humanitarian Aid workers | 3 | Online | Invitation only |
| 19-23 Oct | Negotiation Skills Training for Humanitarian Aid workers | 3 | Online | Invitation only |
| 2-4 Nov | E-mediation | 3 | Online | Invitation only |
| 9-10 Nov | E-mediation | 3 | Online | Alumni |
| 16-17 Nov | E-mediation | 3 | Online | Alumni |
| 23-27 Nov | Negotiation Skills Training for Humanitarian Aid workers | 3 | Online | Invitation only |
Impact of the Clingendael Humanitarian Negotiation Programme
To measure the impact of our training courses, all of our alumni receive a questionnaire 6 months after completing the course, asking about their involvement in negotiations, use of tools and techniques from the training, and the broader impact on their organization.
Over 80% of our alumni have been involved in humanitarian negotiations after completing the course. Alumni report a broad range of humanitarian negotiation activities, all of which contributed to increasing the effectiveness of their humanitarian work. Perhaps most importantly, 91% of alumni state that they achieved a better negotiation outcome because of the negotiation skills they learned from our course. The reported negotiation activities include:
- Negotiating for access to an area or a target population (30%)
- Financial negotiations: with donors or suppliers (19%)
- Negotiating for cooperation from local communities (16%)
- Negotiating for permission to implement specific activities (after gaining general access) (14%)
- Negotiations with other humanitarian organizations on coordination and implementation (14%)
- Defending humanitarian principles as conditions for operations (7%)
