Embassy Highlights

Mediation cooperation a success

Mediation Trainer Bogdan Matei lectures in Bucharest. Photo: Stelian Manolescu/CMC.

Thanks to a cooperative project between the Craiova Mediation Center (CMC) and US Embassy in Romania, more Romanians are being trained in mediation while the justice system now places a greater emphasis on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to settle disputes. This reduces unnecessary use of the court to resolve disputes giving judges and prosecutors more time to focus on cases which cannot be resolved through ADR means.

Begun in 2004 with twenty volunteers and a full time staff, Craiova Mediation Center opened as a pilot center by Ministry of Justice and financed with SEED funds by the US Embassy in Romania. Since then CMC has mediated over 1000 cases, trained over 500 Romanian mediators and educated the public about alternative conflict resolution through extensive national public outreach projects.

In January-February 2008, Embassy Public Affairs Officer Judy Moon spoke at the graduation of 60 new mediators - 20 in Craiova and 40 in Bucharest – completed a professional mediation training program. By May 2008, more 180 mediators will receive mediation training at various locations around the country. These latest trainings are financed by the participants or their employers – a key step in assuring the sustainability of the Craiova Mediation Center and the mediation profession in Romania.

Craiova Mediation Center has made a significant investment in human resources to build momentum and promote mediation in Romania. The goal of CMC is to improve the ADR environment by continuing to provide state of the art conflict resolution services for individuals, businesses, organizations and countries with less-developed ADR systems.

More resources:

• Craiova Mediation Center maintains a website at http://www.mediere.ro/
• Romanian Mediation Centers Union: http://www.ucmro.ro/
• U.S. Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service: http://www.fmcs.gov/

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