Mediation will soon take a different approach in South Africa, when a whole street will dedicate itself to resolving disputes without going to court. Fifteen women in the area will be trained as registered mediators and their homes will become “conflict resolution and legal education spaces.” The movement is run by the African School of Mediation with the goal being to offer better accessibility to the law.

One of the problems for South Africa’s residents is that they cannot deal with the difficult they face because they have no access to the legal system. Filing a lawsuit in South Africa, especially in certain areas, is not as commonplace as it is in the United States. Now, with the mediation program, mediators will assist settling disputes by helping parties identify the issue, discuss the problem, consider various compromises, and find a solution that helps them resolve the dispute.

The program makes sense, considering many South African laws require mediation before litigation. It also eliminates much of the expense of attorneys.

The women undergoing training in the program are already well-respected members of their community. They hope this will help South Africans better understand one another, be more compassionate, and learn how listening can help them solve their disputes – much of which center on housing and family issues.

Many people in the township that will have access to the program are currently unemployed and do not have the money to hire an attorney or to go to court. They have a limited understanding of the law, so when a problem occurs, they take matters into their own hands and become destructive.

The ultimate goal is to expand the existing program to include a variety of alternative dispute resolution methods that can be used to settle many different types of disputes, and to bring the program into other areas.