Paul van Tongeren

Executive Director of the European Centre for Conflict Prevention

Interviewed by Julian Portilla, 2003

This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).

Q: You have a unique point of view, as a networker, as someone who makes linkages between organizations and conflict interveners. What advice, from that point of view, would you give to people who are on the ground intervening in conflicts?

A: For interveners my first advice is, what hopefully most will do, is to really do some homework in looking what our backgrounds are, what our key resource persons and other organizations have done in specific regions. Try and find some evaluations, and so on. Secondly, really try to contact local actors and get their views. Assertiveness can help, but progress must come from the people themselves, so don't push too much. Take a lot of time, and understand that it is a long-term commitment.