Catherine Barnes

Catherine Barnes has extensive experience designing and facilitating deliberative dialogue, as well as teaching and training adults in working with conflict, strategies for building peace and promoting social justice. More details are on her website: https://www.catherinebarnes.space/

She has worked in more than 30 countries particularly in Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Caucasus as well as the United States. With more than thirty years working with non-governmental organizations, Catherine’s peacebuilding practice has included:
• Whole of system process design and dialogue facilitation, strategic planning and collaborative learning, including large-scale conferences and more intimate deliberative dialogue processes with people from across conflict divides;
• Teaching and training in peace processes, conflict transformation, dialogue, problem solving, leadership development and empowerment for social action;
• Policy research, policy dialogue and advocacy on issues connected to war-to-peace transition processes, political negotiation, statebuilding, and civil society roles in peacebuilding.
• Program and project development and proposal preparation; strategic reviews and evaluation.

FACILITATION AND PROCESS DESIGN

Major Conferences
• Global conference at UN headquarters “From Reaction to Prevention: the Roles of Civil Society in Preventing Armed Conflict and Building Peace”—process design, preparation and facilitation of plenary and large panel sessions of conference involving more than 1,000 participants from civil society, governments, and IGOs, New York, July 2005
• European Regional Conference of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict—facilitated a consensus building process for more than 250 people to agree the European Action Agenda, Ireland, April 2004
• “Tools for Peace”—lead facilitator of this international, inter-religious peace conference, Sweden, November 2004
• “Role of the EU in the South Caucasus”, lead facilitator of conference for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Mennonite Church USA’s “Future Church Summit”, lead designer and facilitator of a multi-phase process for church renewal leading to an interactive multi-stakeholder dialogue involving more than 700 delegates., Jan-July 2017.

Dialogue and joint-analysis
• Designed and facilitated numerous seminars for policy makers, political party representatives, civil society representatives and analysts – many involving participants from across conflict divides – to explore various issues in conflict prevention and learning from peace processes.
• Designed and facilitated a series of deliberative dialogue processes for ethnic leaders inside Myanmar/Burma leading to shared vision for future and action agendas for collaborative work.
• Facilitated a series of workshops for governmental and civil society representatives from five East European countries on key problems in majority/minority relations and wrote published reports of the outcomes.

• Community dialogues for racial justice and healing in Virginia.

Strategic planning and meeting facilitation
• Facilitated strategic planning processes, retreats, and meetings for: Conciliation Resources; Center for Justice and Peacebuilding; Consortium Initiative on Nagorny-Karabakh; EMU School of Graduate Studies; EMU Enrollment Department; Free Tibet Campaign; Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict; Haiti Advocacy Working Group; Saferworld; Jackson Mississippi Public Schools Restorative Justice Initiative; PLATFORM London.

TRAINING IN PEACEBUILDING, GOVERNMENT TRANSITION AND ADVOCACY
• Designed and delivered numerous bespoke training courses on peacemaking and peace processes for groups ranging from the UK government’s conflict adviser cadre, to members of armed insurgency groups, to civil society ‘insider partial’ peacemakers.
• Designed and facilitated training seminars for diplomats and UN officials on conflict resolution and negotiation skills and wrote training manual to accompany the course.
• Designed & delivered a series of trainings for three cohorts of deliberative dialogue process designers and facilitators in Myanmar/Burma to support the peace process and other socio-political change (2014-2017).
• Developed and delivered trainings and training-of-trainers courses on governance transition processes and roles of legislature for new ethnic politicians and civil society activists in Myanmar/Burma.
• Developed and delivered annual module on reconciliation and transitional justice for Responding To Conflict.
• Delivered a series of training seminars on strategies for public participation in peacemaking, including for the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs and for Sri Lankan officials and civic leaders; gave talks on this theme for various audiences in London, New York, Washington and Yerevan.
• Taught EU specialization course on conflict transformation at Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution
• Advised a group of Dutch Malukans on possible roles of diaspora communities in conflict and peacebuilding.
• Designed and facilitated a range of training seminars for minority rights activists on human rights and advocacy, including tailored courses for advocacy at both the UN Human Rights Commission and at the Council of Europe.
• Conducted a series of seminars to train teachers, students and community activists in communication, conflict resolution, and problem solving skills.

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
• Advised the European Union in its support for the emerging peace process in Myanmar and the concept of its funding for development of institutions to support the process, 2012.
• Served as strategic adviser to the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC)–2003-2005
• Conducted a review of Conciliation Resources’ Accord program, which led to the development of a new strategic direction for the program and a detailed ‘business-plan’ for achieving it.
• Developed and implemented a three-year program for Minority Rights Group to promote minority rights and cooperation between communities in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Slovakia.
• Served as an expert adviser to the PEER project of the European Network Against Racism to develop empowerment projects for community organizations fighting discrimination throughout Europe

INDEPENDENT EVALUATION, STRATEGIC REVIEWS AND FIELD STUDIES
• Strategic Advisor and Reviewer for the Consortium Initiative on Nagorny-Karabakh – 2005-2007
• Conducted evaluation reviews of Conciliation Resources’ 5-year peacebuilding program in Georgia/Abkhazia; of International Alert’s peacebuilding program in Georgia/Abkhazia; and of Saferworld’s work in the Western Balkans
• Conducted evaluation research for CHF’s ‘Stable Society Study’ on the impact of participatory community development on conflict in Southern Serbia.

POLICY ADVOCACY AND AWARENESS RAISING
• Policy adviser for Conciliation Resources, responsible for researching and formulating its policy advocacy strategy, drafting policy analysis and materials, and delivering results on its policy change goals—from 2006-2010.
• Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict: Facilitated and drafted the development of the Global Action Agenda, prepared submissions for various UN reports, represented GPPAC at UN General Assembly Hearings in advance of the Millennium Declaration Review Summit, lobbied UN officials and government representatives on key GPPAC goals, helped to catalyze the ‘Group of Friends for Conflict Prevention’ involving almost 40 missions.
• Prepared submissions and represented Minority Rights Group International in international fora (UN, OSCE, Council of Europe) and conferences to raise awareness of specific minority rights issues.
• Experienced in consulting with senior government and inter-governmental officials, civil society leaders, community activists and researchers on a diverse range of conflict, human rights, and policy concerns.
• Provided informal consultation on dynamics of peace processes and specific conflict situations with intermediaries, policy advisors, and activists responsible for developing peacebuilding strategies.

ACADEMIC TEACHING AND COURSE DEVELOPMENT
• Eastern Mennonite University, developed and taught classes on war-to-peace transitions, peace processes, public policy, group facilitation, advanced practice skills, foundations for justice and peacebuilding, and conflict analysis for masters degree students.
• UN University of Peace: taught graduate class on conflict analysis, peace processes, negotiation and mediation.
• Europa-Universität Viadrina: developed and wrote an online master degree class on international conflict management.
• Applied Conflict Transformation Studies: advised Responding to Conflict in the development of this international distance-learning graduate program and authored core readers..

EMPLOYMENT
• EASTERN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY, Associate Professor Strategic Peacebuilding and Public Policy, Aug 2011-Present (ongoing)
• INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT, working for NGOs, inter-governmental organizations and governments on strategies and processes for conflict transformation and positive change, from January 2002 (ongoing)
• HOPE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY – MYANMAR, Adviser, January 2010-February 2011.
• CONCILIATION RESOURCES, Accord Programme Manager / Series Editor, May 2000–Jan 2002, London
• MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP INTERNATIONAL (MRG), Programme Co-ordinator for Europe/FSU/ Americas, Nov 1995–Oct 1998, London
• INSTITUTE OF WORLD AFFAIRS, Program Associate, Jan 1994–Oct 1995, Washington, DC
• JOHN C. NEWMAN, P.C., Legal Assistant, Oct 1992–Jan 1994, Washington, DC
• MENTAL HEALTH LAW PROJECT, Children’s SSI Campaign Assistant, Washington, DC
• SENECA COMMUNITY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CENTER, Regional Youth Specialist and Adolescent Therapist, May 1989–Oct 1990, Lewisburg, West Virginia
• FAMILY REFUGE CENTER, Program Coordinator, June 1987–Aug 1988, Lewisburg, West Virginia
• OHIO PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP, Peace and Social Justice Coordinator, Sept 1983-June 1985

PAX 617 War-to-Peace Transitions: Systemic Peacebuilding

PAX 610 Facilitation: Process Design for Dialogue, Deliberation and Decisionmaking

PAX 634 Foundations for Justice and Peacebuilding II

Previous and Occasional Courses

PAX 533: Conflict Analysis – occasionally in the Summer Peacebuilding Institute

PAX 590: Peacebuilding and Public Policy – complete redesign of course.

PAX 607: Techniques for Group Facilitation – modified the syllabus and developed a new series of interactive and experiential exercises for course.

PAX 603: Peacebuilding Practices: Skills Assessment – with Dave Brubaker, course modifications for Autumn 2011 and refined for SPI 2012.

CJP Core Curriculum Redesign Committee – Chair; CJP Identity, Trauma, STAR Task Force – process design, facilitation, rapporteur;

EMU – Member of the Reference Group for the Listening Process (2014); Graduate Curriculum Committee (Chair, 2012-1014)

Presented “Owning the process: public participation in re-negotiating the state in times of transition”, Tuesday Faculty/Staff Luncheon, Eastern Mennonite University, 28 February 2012.