Twenty-five legal and non-legal professionals completed an Advanced Mediation Training Programme which concluded with a Certificate Award Ceremony at the Little Rock Hotel, New Amsterdam, Berbice, last Friday, the U.S. Embassy said in a press release yesterday.
The individuals who completed the training will now be eligible for inclusion on a Roster of Mediators for the High Court at Berbice.
The release noted also that the mediators will be listed on a Roster of Mediators which is recognized and endorsed by the Judiciary, and this would allow them to conduct court-connected mediation in Georgetown. At present, mediation is available only through the High Court in Georgetown.
U.S. Ambassador D. Brent Hardt and Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, representing the Chancellor of the Judiciary, addressed the mediators and presented certificates.
The training was provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID/Guyana) through its Governance Enhancement Project (GEP).
The training programme, which utilized participatory approaches, was conducted by Paul Hinds from the Dispute Resolution Foundation, Jamaica. It reviewed the scope, nature, and implementation of mediation systems, with a focus on benefits of mediation to parties, the functions of a mediator, stages of mediation, court-connected mediation, case analysis, and management of dynamics at a mediation table, the release concluded.
