Negotiation for Humanitarian Responders

Syrian Red Crescent aid convoy on its way to communities affected by conflict. Photo: Zaher Barazi/Syrian Red Crescent.

Prepare to negotiate the non-negotiable.

Complex negotiations are a daily reality for aid workers, whether it's delivering aid supplies into a conflict zone, gaining access to the most vulnerable in disaster-affected communities, or advocating for good practice aid work with colleagues. It is vital to have the skills and confidence to successfully navigate these situations.

The Negotiation for Humanitarian Responders course is presented jointly by Australian Red Cross and RedR Australia. It will equip you to be a strong and agile negotiator in complex humanitarian settings. It explores legal frameworks, mandates of humanitarian actors and unpacks the complex factors that can help or hinder negotiations.

This four-day residential course emphasises techniques such as analysing your own and others' negotiation positions, active listening, mitigating anger and hostility, and other essential skills. You will learn ways to advocate and defend your positions on behalf of your organisation and its beneficiaries.

Who is this course for?

All aid workers need to be effective negotiators- people's lives can depend on it.

Are you equipped to negotiate with potentially volatile non-state actors? How would you reach a mutually beneficial outcome with government officials or overcome resistance to your project? We'll take you through these and other practical scenarios.

This course is ideal for humanitarian practitioners; government officials, or anyone working in the humanitarian space or emergency response. It builds on participants' field experiences, observations and ideas so they develop and learn from each other.

As a participant of this course you will:

Strengthen your negotiation skills
Understand legal frameworks and mandates and how they affect humanitarian negotiations
Understand how humanitarian contexts affect negotiations
Enhance your effectiveness as an advocate for, and within, your organisation

What will you learn?

Essential interpersonal and communication skills
Key legal frameworks and mandates and how they affect humanitarian negotiations
Tools for contextual analysis, planning negotiations and developing negotiating strategies
How to prepare for negotiation in humanitarian and protection contexts
Reading body language when conducting face-to-face negotiations
Tips for negotiating across cultures
Pitfalls and strategies for negotiating through an interpreter
Tactics to manage aggressive negotiations
Culture, gender and negotiation
Dilemmas and tactics of multi-party negotiations
How to monitor implementation of negotiated agreements

Pre-requisites and assumed knowledge

It is assumed that you have experience working in the humanitarian sector, including an understanding of international humanitarian concepts, principles, standards and terminology.

You will benefit most from this course if you have field experience.

Our facilitators

You will hear directly from those 'in the know' - experienced aid workers from Red Cross, RedR and other humanitarian organisations. Our facilitators go beyond theory to share their experiences in the field; showing you the realities and complexities of negotiating in humanitarian settings.