In this 1-hour course, you will learn essential strategies for negotiating humanitarian access. As you go through the course, you will explore different scenarios and navigate through common negotiation issues involving state actors, peer organizations, restricted access, and checkpoints. These scenarios will help you understand how to apply tactics for back-and-forth communication with both state and non-state actors to gain safe access to vulnerable populations while adhering to humanitarian principles, donor requirements, and laws.

Objectives:

• Determine how to use the ‘Seven Elements of Negotiation: Circle of Value’ to reach agreements based on trust and respect.
• Develop an understanding of when to walk away and when to stay involved during negotiations.
• Understand the steps to conducting stakeholder mapping, assess where power resides, analyze support, opposition, and relationships among stakeholders, and develop an influence strategy.
• Identify the five pillars of negotiation when dealing with armed groups.

Mercy Corps and DisasterReady designed this course for humanitarians, development professionals, and peacebuilders who engage in negotiations with state actors, non-state actors, or peer organizations.