Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum

Since 1999, the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum (CPRF) has provided a monthly platform in Washington for highlighting innovative and constructive methods of conflict resolution. CPRF’s goals are to (1) provide information from a wide variety of perspectives; (2) explore possible solutions to complex conflicts; and (3) provide a secure venue for stakeholders from various disciplines to engage in cross-sector and multi-track problem-solving. The CPRF is co-sponsored by a consortium of organizations that specialize in conflict resolution and/or public policy formulation.

The Use of Soap Opera to Prevent Violence
Live Webcast - Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

CPRF Meetings

Media can play a crucial role both in inflaming conflict—and in defusing it.  Search for Common Ground produces media with a positive message.  The goal is to influence mass attitudes and behaviors.  The basic premise is that well-crafted, entertaining programming can have a profound impact on how people think about themselves, their neighbors, and their society.  Search uses the tools of popular culture to communicate messages of conflict resolution and tolerance. 

And what could be more part of global popular culture than soccer?   Search is currently capitalizing on the global passion for soccer to produce dramatic TV and radio series in each of a dozen African, Middle Eastern, and Asian countries that tell fictionalized stories of young people of different ethnic and religious groups playing football.   The core metaphor is simple:  If they don’t cooperate, they won’t score goals.  The first 26-episode series had its première in May in Kenya, and the second will begin broadcast in Côte d’Ivoire in August.   At the June forum, the fifth in a series on Defense, Development and Diplomacy, there will be screenings from both series, which will be followed by a discussion of the use of media to prevent conflict.

JOHN MARKS—President and Founder, Search for Common Ground
John Marks is President and founder of Search for Common Ground, an international conflict prevention NGO headquartered in Washington and Brussels, with offices in 18 countries. He also founded and heads Common Ground Productions, which produces radio and television programming around the world to help prevent and transform conflict. He wrote and produced The Shape of the Future series of TV documentaries, which was aired simultaneously on Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab satellite television— something that had never been done before. He is a best-selling, award-winning author and in 2006 was awarded a Skoll Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship.

DEBORAH JONES—Executive Producer, Common Ground Productions
Deborah Jones is the executive producer for Common Ground Productions, the media arm of Search for Common Ground, where she is responsible for the development and production of the television series worldwide. Since joining the organization in 2006, she has developed and/or produced TV pilots or series in Egypt, Sierra Leone, Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, the U.S., and a radio series in Ethiopia. She is currently in charge of “The Team,” a multi-episodic, TV series being produced in ten countries. Deborah had a long career in television production and as a writer in Los Angeles. She created and produced the NBC television series, Amazing Grace, and has written numerous television movies for NBC, CBS, ABC, and the cable networks. She holds a MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Click here for notes from previous CPRF events.

CPRF Sponsors

• Alliance for Peacebuilding, Charles F. Dambach
• Center for Global Peace, American University / Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution – George Mason University, Joseph Montville
• Center for Preventive Action/Council on Foreign Relations, Paul B. Stares
• Conflict Management Program/SAIS - Johns Hopkins University, P. Terrence Hopmann
• Partners for Democratic Change, Raymond Shonholtz
• Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity/Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Howard Wolpe
• Search for Common Ground, John Marks
• United States Institute of Peace, Pamela Aall

 
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