Overview

This highly interactive seminar focuses on the development of effective negotiation skills, styles, and strategies, with special emphasis on multilateral negotiation with and within international organizations and companies. Through in-depth analysis of theory and practice with exercises and simulated negotiations, participants will gain the necessary skills to become confident negotiators, overcome impasse in the negotiation process, and utilize strategic tactics to further their own positions and interests. Officials and practitioners from developing countries, who have been confronted by the challenges of negotiating with their domestic and international counterparts as well as international development institutions, would find this seminar highly beneficial.

Format

The seminars are currently offered both in-person and online simultaneously, at the choice of the participant. This choice must be indicated at the time of registration. A small number of courses are scheduled to be delivered exclusively in person or online, and are indicated as such in the 2024 schedule. In-Person Only seminars usually start at 9:30 am Washington D.C. time. Daily sessions usually end at 4:00 pm. Breaks (including the lunch break) are allocated as appropriate. Online Only seminars will be delivered through five (for 1-week course) or ten (for 2-weeks course) live online sessions via videoconferencing platform. Each session will last approximately 3.5 hours and will be scheduled to start within a time window of 7:00 am – 8:30 am Washington D.C. time. Hybrid In-Person/Online seminars will start at a time most convenient to both in-person and online participants, and will generally follow the In-Person seminar format. We expect the classes to be highly interactive and can include presentations, case studies and exercises.

Course Outline

• Negotiation and conflict styles
• Approaches to negotiation
• Preparing for negotiation
• Process and key stages of negotiation
• Analyzing positions, interests, options, and more
• Techniques and skills
• Exploring power and cultural dynamics
• Overcoming impasse
• Dealing with difficult negotiators
• Multilateral negotiation in international organizations and companies

General team and organizational management skills: change management; communication management; conflict management; constraint management; crisis management; decision management; financial management; human resource management; information management; operations management; perception management; performance management; process management; project and program management; quality management; resource management; risk management; skills management; strategic management

Leadership and Management in International Development Work

• Meeting donor and other key stakeholder requirements
• Building strong relationships with strategic partners
• Executing in challenging political environments
• Working with limited resources
• Institutionalizing open and participatory communication channels

Course Advisor

Dr. Gerhard Botha is the Director of Programs at the International Law Institute in Washington D.C. Previously, he worked for the World Bank as a senior sector specialist in legal and judicial reform and private and financial sector development. Gerhard specialized in labour/employment law and relations, conflict resolution and negotiations, both in private practice and within a large corporate environment in Southern Africa. At the start of his career he served as a Law Officer in the Army; and subsequently as a Public Prosecutor, and then as a State Attorney in the Department of Justice in South Africa. Dr. Botha has over 36 years’ experience in legal and labour relations practice, and in international development. Gerhard holds B.A. and LL.B degrees from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, an LL.M in labour law, from the University of South Africa and an LL.M focusing on labour/employment law and alternate dispute resolution, from The George Washington University Law School in Washington DC. He also holds a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University.