(Phnom Penh / Asheville) – IDI and Equitable Cambodia are pleased to launch a new training resource for the defense of land and housing rights. Avoiding Forced Evictions: A Community Guide to Negotiation and Advocacy aims to help communities prepare for negotiations with private companies or government authorities seeking to take their land and/or evict them from their homes. The guide seeks to address the radically asymmetrical power relations in these sorts of negotiations by situating negotiation within a broader advocacy strategy. Through case studies and interactive exercises, this four-day course guides facilitators to teach important principles and skills to strengthen the negotiation capability of leaders and representatives of communities facing forced displacement.
These principles and skill-sets include:
- Understanding the importance of information gathering about the interests of the community and the other party.
- Actor-mapping.
- Using standards in negotiation (laws, rights, best practices, market price, etc.).
- Thinking about options for negotiated settlement.
- Understanding the Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA) and strategies for first offers.
- Knowing when and how to use advocacy in negotiation.
- Understanding the importance of preparation and developing a negotiation strategy.
The first edition of the guide has been developed for the Cambodian context and is available in Khmer and English. A second edition of the guide for a broader Southeast Asian context is currently under development and is expected to be published in 2016.