BYUH intercultural peacebuilding students share their experiences with implementing a new form of mediation called the HIVA Navigation Model during their trip to New Zealand
A group of five students spent 15 days in New Zealand assisting Dr. Michael Ligaliga in teaching peer mediation to youth at Mangere College and Tamaki College with his HIVA Navigation Model, said Maclaine Day, and adjunct faculty member in the Faculty of Culture, Language & Performing Arts. They left towards the end of April and returned the beginning of May. Day said, “The schools are working to embed peer mediation as a conflict resolution practice within their institutions, and our BYU–Hawaii students worked with and supported the youth as they went through the peer mediation training.”
During their stay in New Zealand, BYUH students Amella Pena, Cora Westcott, Sophia Randall, Annette Shin and Megan Cancienne networked and learned in different mediation and conflict resolution spaces in New Zealand, said Day. “We had meetings with The Peace Foundation [an organization promoting peace education and leadership through peer mediation], mediators at the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and The Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution [a private organization that focusing on conflict resolution through alternative dispute resolution practices].”
The group also had an opportunity to speak and share their remarks focusing on the question, “Where can I turn for peace?” at a fireside in a local ward, said Day.
Mediation
Sophia Randall, a senior from Alaska majoring in intercultural peacebuilding, described mediation as a third party, almost like translating. She said, “When two parties are in conflict, a mediator comes in and translates for the two parties to understand each other and come to a collaborative solution.”
Randall said the type of mediation they were implementing in New Zealand was a combination of narrative mediation, which consists of sharing stories and trying to solve problems using the stories that are told, and the HIVA model.
HIVA model
Anette Shin, a senior from New York majoring in intercultural peacebuilding, said HIVA means “nine” in Tongan, and Dr. Ligaliga got inspired by the nine dots puzzle, which is a puzzle meant to make people think outside of the box. Shin said the nine dots are aligned in a square shape with three lines of three dots. “ Your job is to connect all the dots with four consecutive lines. You can't lift the pen up; the lines have to be continuous and straight,” said Shin.
After demonstrating the nine dots analogy, Shin said “Ligaliga’s idea is that the nine dots are like the structures mediation bring, the formalities, laws or the ideas and theories you bring two people.” Shin explained that going outside of the nine dots requires bringing in a cultural and Pacific lens.
Day said the HIVA model developed by Ligaliga “is taking elements of narrative mediation, which is a more transformational approach to resolving the conflict between parties, and putting it through a Pacific lens and perspective.” The HIVA model was developed by combining elements from narrative mediation, applying it to better serve Pacific Islanders through their values and principles and navigating a little differently from a Western or transactional approach, said Day.
Preparation
Day said the students who traveled are intercultural peacebuilding students who have completed over 40 hours of advanced mediation training.
Cora Westcott, a senior from Utah majoring in intercultural peacebuilding, said she took the cultural mediation class, the advanced mediation class and attended Ligaliga’s class where he taught the HIVA model. She said, “I feel like we were kind of just thrown into it, which is kind of fun. It was a good way to learn it. We didn't really know exactly what we were doing, but once we got there, we did.”
Amella Pena, a senior from Utah majoring in intercultural peacebuilding, said she attended the mediation classes without being officially enrolled in them because she wanted to learn the HIVA mediation model. She said it helped her in her preparation to teach and work with Pacific Islanders.
Randall said in preparation for their trip, they practiced how to mediate in different scenarios, determined what was relevant to what the people in the scenarios were going through and thought about what they would likely see in the environments they want to work in.
Outcomes
Shin said students in both colleges knew the mediation principles they taught, it was just a matter of finding the right words and refining the things they were already doing. She said, “At the end of the day, let's just treat people as people and … recognize different people's cultures, backgrounds and the ideas that they bring are important.”
Shin said the trip made her ponder what she could do as an intercultural peacebuilding major. “Going to New Zealand made me realize that peacebuilding is majorly needed and that there are places where a peaceful program is integrated into the government and the government really supports it. There are so many career opportunities and so many people are ready,” said Shin.
Westcott said she has always been drawn to working with children or high school students and the opportunity to work with the students from Mangere and Tamaki College has solidified her desire to work with younger people in peacebuilding and mediation topics. “It made me realize how much my own high school would have benefited from this type of thing. And it was really cool to go in and be able to show them something that I wish I had,” said Westcott.
“One of my favorite jobs was working at the elementary school … going on this trip and working with kids reminded me of how much I love working with kids,” said Randall. She said the experiences she had in high school prepared her to better understand what some of the students they taught in New Zealand were going through. Randall continued, “It made me realize how good kids are at mediation and how much potential there is for that to help them build a solid foundation for conflict resolution as they grow up.”
Pena said “I'm from Utah, but I do think New Zealand is far ahead in their mediation game.“ She said they met with three different groups that are doing mediation, including a non-governmental organization teaching mediation to elementary students and a company implementing mediation in all aspects of their lives. She said it was a realization for her that there could be more things done with peacebuilding.
Day said, “In the United States, there's the idea that mediation and peacebuilding is kind of a last resort, whereas it was really helpful to see in New Zealand that mediation and these conflict resolution practices are treated as a first step of working things out in an alternative way.”
Day said it was helpful and impactful for the students to see the difference and share how things work in different spaces with the students here at BYUH. “Even though the HIVA model comes from the Pacific lens, I think it's applicable in any kind of space. The majority of students that we were working with were of Pacific Island descent, but the schools and the communities they were living in are very internationally influenced communities and places,” said Day.
Day said it was an eye-opener to see that people are living in a globalized world, and every relationship is an intercultural relationship. “If we can learn to navigate those relationships a little better, [we can be] set up to succeed, and I think here at BYU Hawaii we can be a starting place,” said Day.