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title, date, draft
| title | date | draft |
|---|---|---|
| About | 2023-07-10 | false |
About the Community Dispute Protocol Builder
The Dispute Protocol Builder is a collaborative tool designed to help communities develop customized frameworks for addressing and resolving conflicts. Rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all solution, this tool empowers communities to create protocols that reflect their unique values, culture, and specific needs.
Why Create a Dispute Protocol?
Every community experiences conflicts. Whether in neighborhoods, workplaces, cooperatives, online spaces, or cultural groups, disagreements and tensions are inevitable. Having a thoughtful, agreed-upon process for addressing these conflicts provides numerous benefits:
- Prevents escalation of small issues into major conflicts
- Creates consistency and predictability during challenging times
- Ensures fairness and transparency in how issues are addressed
- Reduces harm during the resolution process
- Builds community capacity to handle future conflicts
- Strengthens relationships by demonstrating commitment to healthy conflict engagement
- Embodies community values in practical, actionable ways
- Provides guidance when emotions are running high
Without a clear protocol, communities often default to ad-hoc approaches that can amplify harm, reinforce power imbalances, or leave conflicts unresolved.
How the Builder Works
The Protocol Builder guides you through creating a comprehensive dispute resolution framework using a modular approach:
1. Start from Templates or Build from Scratch
Begin with one of our pre-designed templates based on restorative justice, transformative justice, or consensus-based approaches—or start with a blank slate and build your own custom protocol.
2. Customize Each Stage
The builder walks you through six key stages of dispute resolution:
- Preparation: Establishing core values, principles, and participant roles
- Initiation: Defining how disputes are raised, acknowledged, and entered into the process
- Exploration: Investigating and understanding the facts, perspectives, and underlying needs
- Deliberation: Discussing potential solutions and working toward agreements
- Resolution: Finalizing, documenting, and implementing solutions
- Follow-up: Evaluating outcomes, ensuring accountability, and making improvements
3. Mix and Match Modules
For each component within these stages, you can select from pre-written modules or craft your own content. This modular approach lets you:
- Choose elements that align with your community's values
- Adapt the protocol based on your community's capacity and resources
- Create a coherent process that addresses your specific needs
- Ensure nothing important is overlooked
4. Export and Share
When your protocol is complete, export it as:
- A formatted PDF to share with your community
- A Markdown document for easy editing and version control
- A JSON file that can be imported back into the builder for future updates
Design Principles
The Dispute Protocol Builder is designed around these core principles:
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Accessibility: Simple, clear language and an intuitive interface make this tool usable by anyone, regardless of technical expertise or familiarity with conflict resolution terminology.
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Flexibility: Every component is customizable to accommodate diverse community contexts and needs.
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Comprehensiveness: The tool addresses all aspects of dispute resolution, from initial values to final implementation.
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Educational: Pre-written modules offer best practices drawn from various dispute resolution traditions.
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Privacy-Focused: All work happens locally in your browser—no data is sent to our servers.
Who Is This For?
This tool is designed for any group that wants to improve how they handle internal conflicts:
- Intentional Communities and Cooperatives
- Neighborhood Associations
- Activist Groups and Collectives
- Small Businesses and Worker Cooperatives
- Faith Communities
- Online Communities and Forums
- Educational Institutions
- Non-Profit Organizations
- Artistic and Cultural Collectives