Our Publications

Listed here are a variety of items produced by Search for Common Ground or from sources affiliated with Search for Common Ground. We permit the re-publication of any of our materials that are not copyrighted, as long as attribution is given to Search for Common Ground. For copies of the following items, please contact Karen Zehr at kzehr@sfcg.org.

Changing Course: A New Direction for U.S. Relations with the Muslim World
Changing Course represents the consensus of an exceptionally diverse, senior, bipartisan and inter-faith group of 34 American leaders who have worked together to build consensus on a comprehensive approach to improving U.S.-Muslim relations. Moving beyond current deadlocked debates, the Leadership Group has crafted a multi-faceted strategy to enhance U.S. and international security. Their work was supported by Search for Common Ground and CBI, two organizations that specialize in building consensus on controversial public issues. Robert Fersh, Executive Director of Search-USA and Co-Director of the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project, played a central role in conceptualizing and implementing this initiative. [more]

Common Ground on Chemical Risk: Case Studies from the Middle East
Common Ground on Chemical Risk: Case Studies from the Middle East is the final product of a collaborative research project of the Chemical Risks Consortium, formed by non-governmental organizations in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Palestine. Each case study provides a detailed look at a chemical incident, highlighting country-specific mechanisms in responding to chemical and environmental hazards posed by industrial or commercial services. Throughout the analyses of the strengths and weaknesses of their respective national capabilities runs the underlying assumption that the Middle East as a whole remains vulnerable to chemical incidents, whether accidental or deliberate, irrespective of borders. [more]

DM&E Manual: Designing for Results: Integrating Monitoring and Evaluation in Conflict Transformation Programs
This manual is the first of his kind to focus on the particular needs of the conflict transformation field. It addresses the many challenges faced by conflict transformation practitioners in their attempts to measure and increase the effectiveness of their work with practical tips and examples from around the world. [more]

Mediation Manual - Arabic PDF (17MB)
This manual, aims at providing basic information on knowledge, skills and attitudes essential to become a mediator – a person, who serves as a third party neutral in conflict resolution process. The art and science of mediation could not be learned just through reading a book even a perfect manual. It certainly requires a certain amount of training, practicing, reflection, self-evaluation and further professional development through a certain period of time. This handbook will be a helpful tool for you in starting an exciting journey of becoming a mediator – a person, who believes in cooperative approaches and facilitates agreements and understanding in conflicts.  The manual is written in Arabic, and was published in 2009.

Middle East NGO Capacity Building Handbook
This handbook - available for downloading here with summary information available in English - has been written to help strengthen the governing structure and increase the openness and responsiveness of NGOs in the Middle East, particularly in Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. It is also intended to help answer developmental and structural questions for the non-governmental community in the region. [more]

The Common Ground Network for Life and Choice Manual
This manual incorporates over six years of work by the Common Ground Network for Life and Choice (the Network) to foster dialogue and cooperative action between people opposed over abortion. The Network came into being as part of the larger vision of its parent organization, Search for Common Ground (SCG), which is dedicated to promoting constructive approaches to major societal conflicts and highly polarized issues of public significance. [more]

Radio Talkshows for Peace Building - A Guide
This guidebook is about radio talkshows and conflict. Conflict is a primary subject in the media. It dominates news reports and fills up radio talkshows. In fact, radio talkshows feed on conflict. Presenters and producers who are hungry for listeners often seek guests of wildly opposing views to shout at each other on the air. These voices may attract an audience, but do such programmes achieve anything else? This book is aimed at talkshow presenters and producers. It is a guide to exploring the questions: what else can we do, and how? Written by Ross Howard and Francis Rolt, SFCG, 2005. Copies may be downloaded from www.radiopeaceafrica.org.

Talk-shows radio pour construire la paix - un guide
This guidebook is about radio talkshows and conflict. Conflict is a primary subject in the media. It dominates news reports and fills up radio talkshows. In fact, radio talkshows feed on conflict. Presenters and producers who are hungry for listeners often seek guests of wildly opposing views to shout at each other on the air. These voices may attract an audience, but do such programmes achieve anything else? This book is aimed at talkshow presenters and producers. It is a guide to exploring the questions: what else can we do, and how? Written by Ross Howard and Francis Rolt, SFCG, 2005. Copies may be downloaded from www.radiopeaceafrica.org.

Watching The Wind: conflict resolution during South Africa's transition to democracy
A compelling, inspiring account of peacemaking in action, Watching the Wind takes us to the front lines of South Africa's struggle to manage the tempestuous transition from apartheid to democracy. When Mandela, de Klerk, and other political leaders launched the 1991 National Peace Accord in a far-reaching effort to staunch political bloodshed and promote consultation and cooperation between bitter adversaries, author Susan Collin Marks was one of thousands of South Africans who committed themselves to making the peace process work where it mattered most at the local level. [more]

Strategic Choices in the Design of Truth Commissions
A society emerging from a regime marked by grave and serious violations of human rights faces the complex challenge of how best to deal with the past. The establishment of a Truth Commission has helped several countries through this process. In the course of establishing such Commissions, leaders and decision makers are faced with a variety of political and structural choices. A collaboration of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and Search for Common Ground, the information compiled is designed to help build a Truth Commission that fits their unique needs. We have organized the leading research on past Truth Commissions in a manner that is oriented towards decision making, to enable designers of future Commissions to identify the critical factors and potential solutions relevant to their societies. You may access the information via website the website at http://www.truthcommission.org/ or you may order a free CD. To order, please contact Karen Zehr at kzehr@sfcg.org.

Search for Common Ground (Washington DC)
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Phone: (202) 265-4300
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E-mail: search@sfcg.org