Frontline Negotiators
Episodes
Protecting communities in conflict, at the crossroads of negotiation and mediation
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How can mediation efforts help build trust and protect communities in conflict situations? In today's episode, we explore how mediation approaches can...
Crossing the Darien Gap: Negotiating along Latin American migration routes (in Spanish)
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Towards the end of 2024, we traveled to Panama to discuss with Andrehina Díaz about the complexities of negotiating in the context of migration flows...
Empowering local staff in humanitarian negotiation
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Local and national humanitarian staff play an essential role in negotiation processes because of their critical insights into the context and the key ...
Empowering women negotiators (in French)
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Lorsque Mariama Sawadogo, humanitaire burkinabée et formatrice avec le CCHN, a constaté que très peu de femmes africaines participaient aux atelier...
Negotiating with Big Tech
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How is the world of digital technology impacting today's conflict settings, and how can we leverage tech innovations for the sake of the communities w...
Negotiating with (and for) remote indigenous communities (in Spanish)
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Please note that this episode was recorded in Spanish. Negociar con comunidades indígenas presenta desafíos únicos, desde barreras lingüísticas ...
Managing Pressure While Negotiating At The Frontlines
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Humanitarian professionals often find themselves in dangerous, high-stakes or pressure-intense negotiations. When this happens, they need to understan...
Negotiating in Search and Rescue Operations at Sea (in French)
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
PLEASE NOTE: This episode's interview is in French. Search and Rescue operations at sea constitute a relatively new field in the humanitarian sector. ...
At the intersection of humanitarian diplomacy and negotiation
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is humanitarian diplomacy and how is it different from humanitarian negotiation? Are they complementary strategies or rather overlapping tools? ...
Carol's story | Mastering soft skills in negotiations
31 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A successful negotiation relies on strategy just as much as on the way you interact with others. "Soft" skills like emotional intelligence, self-aware...
Pascal's Story | Navigating negotiations through different languages
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Language differences can represent a real hurdle when negotiating in a context that is culturally not our own. In these situations, interpreters and l...
Marika's story | Setting red lines, upholding humanitarian principles
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
'Red lines' are uncrossable limits you just can't push past. For humanitarian negotiators, red lines also define a delicate balance between upholding ...
Maria's story | The power of collective negotiations
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When humanitarian agencies come together to negotiate for the same outcome, their leverage is stronger. But how do you coordinate a team of negotiator...
Rehan's story | When negotiating means thinking outside the box
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes negotiating means finding creative solutions to get around a deadlock. In this episode we hear from Rehan Zahid - Deputy Director of the Cen...
Julia's story | Shifting the negotiation focus to your advantage
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Great negotiators know how to make tough conversations easier – for example by picking the right interlocutor, the most convincing team members, and...
Raquel's story | Local communities: allies, intermediaries or counterparts?
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When men in uniform stopped her at a checkpoint and refused to let her through, Raquel Moreno was quite surprised to see her fellow bus passengers st...
Luca's story | Finding common ground across borders
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It can be hard to create rapport and find a shared interest between people who see the world very differently. In this episode, Luca Falqui, a medic...
Precillar's Story | Understanding a counterpart's deeper reasoning and motives
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
People were quickly running out of water in a camp in Iraq. The tankers stopped getting in. The authorities were tense. That's when Precillar Moyo dec...
Stephen's story | From British army officer to humanitarian negotiator
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Kilpatrick first arrived in Tehran in 2003 to start a dialogue with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. He did not expect he'd be left waiting f...
Valerie Guarnieri's story | Setting the negotiation red lines for thousands across the globe
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Valerie Guarnieri is the Assistant Executive Director at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). In this episode, we talk to her about her firs...
Stories from the Field: Season 2 Trailer
19 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Season 2 of Frontline Negotiators: Stories from the Field is coming on September 6th 2023. Hear more personal stories told by humanitarian professiona...
Mariana's story | How language skills can help in negotiations
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mariana Ariestyawati, from Indonesia, tells us how she used her interpreting skills in a time of crisis and helped her team build trust with people th...
Igor's Story | From Toy Maker to Helping Refugees in Moldova
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation conducts research to better understand the challenges and dilemmas faced by humanitarian negotiat...
Apostolos's story | From medical doctor to negotiator
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Working in a European country in times of peace can be just as challenging as in any other crisis around the world. In this episode, we hear the story...
Dariha's story | When your identity shapes the negotiation outcome
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dariha Erketaeva is a humanitarian professional from Kyrgyzstan – a country that, she says, "very few people know about". Throughout her career and ...
Innocent's story | Learning local customs to build trust in a negotiation
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2016, Innocent Sauti left his home in Zimbabwe to take up a humanitarian mission in Myanmar. Originally a teacher, he had seen the positive impact ...
Nana's story: Preparing is Just as Important
11 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Just like many of her colleagues, Nana Kharbedia – a humanitarian professional from Georgia - was often thrown into a negotiation without getting mu...
Amro's story: Negotiating with Confidence
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How do humanitarians build their negotiation skills? Most often, it's not about reading books or going to school; you learn by doing. Amro Tarrisi ...
Kiran's story: Dealing with Armed Groups
28 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kiran Kothari began his humanitarian career in the early 2000s in the context of the Sri Lankan conflict and has since then worked on several humanita...
Ana's story: The Artistry of Negotiation
28 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ana Daza, a former video-maker from Colombia, completely turned her life around when she took her first humanitarian job. She now works in challenging...
Stories from the Field - Trailer
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Coming on September 29th 2022: Every day, humanitarian workers negotiate with different counterparts – from armed groups to local communities – to...