Keeping Our Cool at COP 26 - Duncan Fraser

Keeping Our Cool at COP-26: a young mediator reports

As a young professional in the field of mediation and studying a master’s degree in peacebuilding and mediation, I was keen to get my hands dirty and get some ‘in the field’ experience. My work with Centre for Good Relations over the last 18 months has been extremely rewarding and I have contributed to some very meaningful discussions, facilitated dialogue, and fostered good and lasting relationships with and among various stakeholders. Our work around marches, parades, and demonstrations in Glasgow has largely been online given the restrictions of the current global pandemic, therefore when the Scottish Government approached us to deliver some sort of work at COP26, I was delighted to finally be getting the chance to get some ‘in the field’ work.

The “Keeping Our Cool” initiative was born out of collaboration among Centre for Good Relations, Scottish Mediation and Place for Hope. We tapped into a pool of UK-wide practitioners in the fields of peacebuilding, formal facilitative mediation, civic mediation, community activism, and others. As I was working in the field of mediation and studying for my Masters, I was able to recruit several students from the University of St Andrews to assist the project, all of which came from the MPhil/MLitt Peacebuilding and Mediation course. This presented the class with a fantastically unique opportunity to gain some practical experience. The Keeping Our Cool initiative was timely as the students had recently undertaken and received accreditation from Scottish Mediation. The core group of practitioners we pooled from had years of experience and the initiative made the conscious decision to pair the experienced practitioners with a student, which created a great opportunity for learning and networking. During some of the de-briefs, the students found this to be one of the most significant takeaways from the initiative.

A lot of preparation went into the initiative in a very short time span, from logistics, organisation, and training for our practitioners. Our team undertook training in security, having difficult conversations, and how to deal with the activist in us. The main aim of the Keeping our Cool initiative was to promote dialogue. . This included discussions at the marches, which in certain situations, helped de-escalate tensions and allow protestors to exercise their right to protest while public order was maintained. Our role as independent mediators was to observe and intervene where appropriate to facilitate dialogue among protestors, the police and others to achieve positive outcomes. We were on hand to support constructive communication with a telephone service operable 24/7 throughout the conference to help people be heard and address contentious issues, disagreements and tensions through dialogue. We had a base where the practitioner team would meet every morning and plan for the day ahead, but also any individual who wished to contact us was able to drop by and have a conversation with us.

I found the work to be meaningful and a great learning opportunity. I have now been to my first march, albeit in a professional role not as a participant, and have had my first experience of a ‘police kettle’. I will forever remember the junction between Renfield Street and St Vincent Street where I spent over two hours on a cold Wednesday evening! The reception to our work generally has been unanimously positive, both from protestors and police. The consensus was that we helped maintain the peace and were a calming presence as a neutral third-party to observe and support the parties. We were able to act as a go between and relay messages between the police and protestors on several occasions. As a young mediator, and I am sure my student classmates will attest to this, it was a fantastic experience. To be present at such a massive event and to contribute something positive to the event in a novel, innovative way was worthwhile. Being able to put our mediation training to use, observing and monitoring the protests and interactions, and the ability to learn and interact with some very experienced mediators, was an invaluable experience and one I am sure will benefit us as we progress in mediation.