Asking the Right Questions: Working as a Standby Team Mediation Advisor

Politically Speaking
5 min readDec 24, 2024

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Often deployed on short notice to provide their technical expertise to parties trying to overcome conflict through dialogue, the on-call mediation support experts of the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) rely on their listening skills, adaptability and creativity to build trust and foster dialogue. Politically Speaking talked to members of the Standby Team to learn more about their work.

“We are quick learners,” said Richard Smith, a member of the Standby Team of Senior Mediation Advisors (SBT), a group of experts working with DPPA’s Mediation Support Unit (MSU) to provide technical expertise on peace processes.

The Unit provides tailored operational assistance to UN entities, such as field missions, envoys and country teams, but also member states, regional organizations and NGOs leading or facilitating dialogue and mediation initiatives.

The SBT counts eight full-time experts and can be deployed by MSU to provide highly specialized mediation expertise that is not readily available within the UN system — often at short notice.

“Our work requires a degree of humility due to the lack of knowledge when we are deployed to new settings,” added Smith, who has been working for the SBT for five years and was deployed earlier in the year to Geneva to assist in the proximity talks on Sudan, convened by the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan.

The experts, whose work is fully financed by donor contributions to DPPA’s Multi-Year Appeal, can be deployed within 72 hours in case of emergency, making their adaptability and listening skills crucial elements to their work.

According to Smith, the key is to dive into the context as much as possible, listen and “ask the right questions” before providing advice to senior UN mediators and other partners leading dialogue and peace processes.

Unlocking opportunities

“We’re very careful to allow people to arrive at their own decisions,” said Smith, adding that “presenting a set of options unlocks opportunities.”

His expertise is on designing and facilitating peace and dialogue processes, such as the advice that he provided to the Presidential Commission for Peace and Understanding in La Araucanía, Chile, an institution set up in 2023 to find long-term solutions to the territorial disputes between the state and the Indigenous Mapuche People.

Process design and facilitation is just one of the many areas of expertise where the MSU can provide support.

“Any entity involved in a peace processes can request support of the MSU on issues that tend to arise in peace processes, from process design, ceasefires, gender and inclusion, and constitutional reform,” explained Eiko Ikegaya, Chief of Mediation Support and Gender, Peace and Security for DPPA. The Unit works in close partnership with the regional divisions in determining the appropriate response to requests for support.

In 2023, the Unit deployed the SBT and its expert staff in response to over 150 requests, which included technical expertise, drafting texts of agreements or providing specialized mediation training.

An inclusive approach

Inclusion is an important consideration in all support provided by the MSU.

Equal and meaningful participation in peace and dialogue processes is a precondition for effective and sustainable outcomes. At times, parties to conflict however resist the inclusion of different stakeholders, particularly women and young people.

“Peace processes should be viewed as societal mechanisms for transforming inequalities and ushering new ways of relating and building our communities of nation states. This can only happen if women and youth are included in these processes” said Florence Mpaayei, SBT expert on Gender and Inclusion.

Advising on ways to overcome such resistance, or building alternative fora for marginalized voices, is an essential part of MSU’s and the SBT’s support services.

In Sudan, for instance, in 2022, the Trilateral Mechanism composed of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) along with the African Union and Inter-Governmental Authority on Development established the Women’s Rights Group (WRG).

The Group brought together independent gender experts from Sudan’s diverse backgrounds to engage with the Trilateral Mechanism and key stakeholders in the political process. With technical support from SBT experts, the WRG became the dedicated platform for women to engage in the Sudanese political process and succeeded in advocating for a provision to ensure at least 40 per cent representation of women in transitional institutions in the 5 December 2022 Framework Political Agreement.

Many of these women continue to be actively engaged in advocating for the resolution of the devastating conflict in Sudan that restarted in April 2023. The resilience and determination of the Sudanese women to embrace dialogue and build consensus in their diverse constituencies offers some hope amidst catastrophic violence.

“A peaceful and gender sensitive inclusive Sudan is the dream of the women of Sudan. It can be realized only if the women, youth and other stakeholders participate in finding a solution,” said Mpaayei.

Building trust

Remote mediation support has become more common in recent years, in particular since the COVID-19 pandemic, and helps reduce costs.

“There must be solid reasons for field deployment,” Smith explained, adding that around 30 per cent of his work is now digital.

Trust is more easily fostered through in-person encounters and is often one of the most challenging aspects of the advisors’ work.

“In Chile, there is a history of unkept promises towards the Mapuche people, who still suffer from discrimination today,” said MSU’s David Mueller, who works alongside Smith in support of the Chilean Commission. “This created disillusionment and a lack of trust.”

Such “trust deficits” are common in contexts where disputes are ongoing, and they can compromise efforts to build dialogue, Smith warned.

“In the absence of strong relationships, it is difficult to talk with frankness and openness,” he explained, noting that building trust can take a long time, but is essential to find genuine agreement.

Using every resource

Sometimes personal chemistry can help bridge gaps in these relationships.

“We use every resource available to us, including personal elements like past experiences, music, hobbies,” Smith said, adding that this might open up space for dialogue even within high-level negotiations.

While speaking the same language can help lift barriers, body language, facial expressions and the amount of time you allow someone to express themselves are equally important, according to Smith.

Walking the talk

“In every conflict there is historical baggage and to overcome it, it is going to take as long as it took to get to that point,” Smith explained, adding that the work of the SBT is just the beginning of a long-term process.

Ultimately, the goal of the SBT and MSU is to create lasting change, even when mediation support is provided for a limited period.

“Reaching an agreement is far from being the end goal,” he said, pointing for instance to the Presidential Commission in Chile which is expected to put forward its recommendations to solve the land disputes next January.

“Only if the recommendations are properly implemented will all the labor put into producing them bear fruit,” he concluded.

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Politically Speaking
Politically Speaking

Written by Politically Speaking

The online magazine of the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs

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