‘Sensitise public to Alternative Dispute Resolution’

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Ms Francois (seated middle) with facilitators and participants after the workshop

The Chairperson of the Ghana Association of Certified Mediators and Arbitrators (GHACMA), Ms Georgette Francois, has called for adequate sensitisation of the public to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

According to her, many people, especially those in rural areas, lack adequate knowledge and information about ADR, including its mandates, activities, and purposes.

“Even though people’s interest in ADR, mediation, and arbitration has increased, many still do not know much about ADR, especially those in rural areas and the younger generation. Therefore, there is a need for intensive advocacy, sensitisation, and awareness creation to help them understand the work and importance of ADR in society,” she said.

Ms Francois made the call in an interview with the Ghanaian Times on Friday, on the sidelines of a closing ceremony for a five-day training workshop on how to establish, manage, and market an ADR centre.

The workshop, opened in Accra on Monday, was designed for 15 participants from various regions and aimed to teach them how to establish and operate private ADR centres.

Dubbed ‘ADR to Your Doorstep,’ the workshop equipped participants with the skills and knowledge needed to provide accessible and affordable ADR services to resolve disputes right at the doorstep of disputants.

It was organised by Dispute Resolution Professionals Limited in partnership with the Ghana Association of Certified Mediators and Arbitrators.

The 40-hour training covered various topics, including types of ADR centres, merits and limitations of ADR centres, legal due diligence and compliance for establishing a business, operationalisation of ADR centres, and ADR administration such as case selection, intake, and case settlement.

Other topics included marketing of ADR centres, the importance of preparing a business plan, building a successful ADR practice, use of social media in marketing, standard operating procedures like code of ethics, licensing and sanctions, the ADR Act of 2010, and challenges of operating an ADR centre.

Ms Francois stressed that in an era overwhelmed by protracted litigation, “ADR at Your Doorstep” is a concept developed to meet the pressing needs of society.

She added that it was a community-based initiative to improve access to justice for disputants, and provide them with a satisfactory, expeditious, and inexpensive means of resolving disputes right in their communities.

“As the use of ADR in resolving disputes becomes more popular in Ghana, the demand for ADR centres is beginning to grow. Although countless individuals have undergone the 40-hour skills-based training in ADR, the lack of ADR centres operating in the country continues to pose a challenge to the development of ADR in Ghana.

“Over 90 per cent of those who have received ADR skills-based training are unable to set up their ADR centres because they have not received the necessary support,” she noted.

A participant in the training, Mrs Sheila Minkah-Premo, said the workshop equipped them with the necessary skills to set up an ADR centre to mediate disputes privately.

BY CECILIA LAGBA YADA