Lebanon Peace Tool Development Project
In order the showcase the National Dialog in Lebanon, a computer tool is being created in Nepal by Unlimited whereby a quick summary on each issue from each of the concerned stakeholders will be able to be uploaded in Groove 2007.
The Lebanon Peace Tool space will be designed to facilitate dialogue and stimulate the exchange of ideas based on a Microsoft Groove Workspaces.
The peace tool procedure is a systematic process to elicit underlying interests and needs of parties & stakeholders and providing a mechanism and space to jointly explore and develop many options and deciding on one. After eliciting the issues and interests of all the parties, the Process Managers and Technical Experts (Technical Committees) drafts a proposal and presents it to the parties as a draft for their input and criticism. The parties need not accept or reject any part of the draft at the various stages of the process -- they may only provide additional options and criticize.
The process is quite literally as there is only one text -- drawn on the texts of each of the stakeholders. All the parties' positions -- on every issue -- are reflected in this space. New positions and proposals are captured daily and included in this dynamic document. The Peace Tool Proposal Draft, however, is a joint and collaborative process and document. The only Technical Committees revise, delete, or add to the draft -- based on the parties' ongoing discussions, positions, needs and interests.
Using the Technical Experts for the on-going re-drafting of the Peace tool proposals would provide the parties the freedom to criticize and discuss the drafts freely without damaging their working relationships. It will hopefully enable the parties to discover common needs and interests -- although they might disagree about the means used to achieve them.
The Process Managers and Technical Experts will continue to revise and resubmit drafts to the parties until the parties believe the draft they have reflects the best they can do to meet all parties' interests. The work in this process and space will be offered to the Lebanon Track One negotiators as resources, guide and means to explore major issues before it reach the negotiations table. The participants in this space are Technical Experts, Policy Advisors, Process Managers, Researchers, Technology Support Consultants and individuals associated with the major political stakeholders or parties.
One of the biggest hindrances on this technology has been the search capability and this project will create a search tool to ensure that any user would be able to find any information in any tool or section of the workspace.