The Peacemaker Project is aimed primarily at schools. Our goal is to increase the conflict competence of school leaders, teachers and students.

The benefits of conflict competence are manifold, including enhancing the teaching experience by enabling leaders and teachers to respond to conflict in the classroom more effectively, and by equipping students with skills to manage their emotions and to respond to conflict more constructively. Students are trained in peer mediation skills, empowering them to manage conflicts between their peers.

Hear about our peer mediation project and watch peer mediators in action HERE

The Peacemaker Project worked with a school in Phoenix following the violence in KZN in 2022. A group of 41 teachers attended a conflict management course conducted by Conflict Dynamics trainers, James Taylor and Nomonde Keswa. Read James Taylor's Blog.

"This (training) needs to be rolled out across the board in schools if we want to change the ethos of violence in our communities" - Popsy Pillay: a teacher and participant on the course.

"An excellent course equipping staff with necessary skills to negotiate very real situations that are encountered on a daily basis" - D A Pillay: a teacher and participant on the course.

We conducted peer mediation training for three Gauteng schools in 2023. The training was attended by 36 learners and two teachers from each school. The learners were trained as peer mediators, and the teachers observed the training so that they could implement the peer mediation program in their schools in the future and support the mediators. This initiative was led by Siham Boda.

In this video, Siham Boda and Felicity Steadman talk with Emma van den Berg, a school-based psychologist specialising in working with adolescents. They explore different types of conflicts that arise in schools and discuss effective strategies for managing them. Watch the video HERE

Watch the video in which Felicity Steadman, Director of Conflict Dynamics, discusses with experts various school-based conflict management initiatives currently underway in South Africa and the UK.