Berghof Foundation: 50 years of conflict transformation

Interview
Experiences
of a facilitator
Dr Nadia
al-Kwkabani
Programme
Manager at
the Political
Development
Forum
You’re an architect by training and are now doing
peacebuilding work. How did that come about?
I teach at Sanaa University. When the
demonstrations began outside the University in
Change Square in 2011, I was one of the academics
who supported the protests and held teach-ins on
the revolution at the Square. Later, I was invited to
become part of the National Dialogue Conference
that was initiated as a result of the protests. That’s
how I became involved in peacebuilding: out of the
conviction that Yemen needed the efforts of all
Yemenis, especially women, to work on dialogue, on
finding solutions and creating a political process.
What was your exact role in the Yemeni
National Dialogue?
After the end of the National Dialogue, I
became part of a consultation group convened by
the Political Development Forum and the Berghof
Foundation. The group was designed to advise on
the implementation of the outcomes of the National
Dialogue. After the war broke out, the group kept
meeting to try to find a political solution to the
conflict and I became the facilitator of our meetings.
I facilitated different meetings between conflict
parties, discussing power-sharing, maps and
federations, as well as process-related issues.
We shared the results with the United Nations
Envoy’s office. In 2018, I became Programme
Manager at the Political Development Forum and
oversaw all the joint projects with Berghof.
Working as a facilitator for political meetings
and dialogues is not easy. It was hard, especially at
first, when the war started and everything became
polarised. It was a risk for the different sides of the
conflict to sit together and to talk — there was a lot
of nervousness and harsh criticism and personal
attacks. I always tried to find common ground to
bridge arguments and conflicts. I learned to use
breaks strategically to defuse conflicts or encourage
participants to talk and reconnect on a personal level.
I have learned two important lessons from this work.
Preparation is key: the facilitator needs to know about
people’s background, what is important to them, and
how they are interacting. And the facilitator has to
have an understanding of the agenda points and key
issues. Always prepare very well!
What were your favourite and your most difficult
moments in your peacebuilding work over the past
ten years?
I am proud of my role in the Yemeni National
Dialogue, where I defended the rights of women
and where we, the independent women’s group
in the Dialogue, managed to secure a 30 per cent
quota for women in Parliament and other decisionmaking
bodies. This was one of the main outcomes
of the dialogue, which then was unfortunately not
implemented due to the war. I am also proud of what
we are doing now: working to build peace in the midst
of war.
The war in Yemen — and everything that
comes with that — has of course been tremendously
challenging. For me personally, it was hard to
continue working in these situations, to travel 10 or
12 hours to different cities to have meetings, or travel
abroad. Having to go through checkpoints, dealing
with insecurity has been challenging; it’s not easy to
move between different areas in the country. But I
believe in what I am doing and this keeps me going.
What challenges do you see ahead, and what makes
you hopeful?
I see many challenges. Continuing to work
and to believe that the war will end is challenging,
and it is already clear that what comes after — the
transition — will not be easy. But this war will come
to an end sooner or later, and we will cross these
bridges when we come to them.
What makes me hopeful is that Yemenis are
sick of war and ready for peace. Also the flexibility
I saw in the meetings I facilitated makes me more
optimistic. Some people are willing to compromise.
That’s actually one of the main secrets of success in
this field: being optimistic.
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