The Koodam Impact

Auroville’s philosophy states that Auroville should exist without law, courts, police and other traditional justice systems, but many in Auroville still come to the Auroville Council and Koodam demanding justice, seeking an authority to act as a judiciary body. Though accepted across cultures, this approach presents many challenges. It tends to create winners and losers instead of win-win solutions based on mutual agreement. This “winners-losers” perspective in turn carries the potential for renewed or additional conflict. And in the absence of an executive power in Auroville, the implementation of decisions that are not “owned” by the affected parties is sometimes very challenging. This is even more so when there had been a feeling of a power imbalance; even if parties come to an agreement, issues of non-compliance occur.

Koodam believes that conflict resolution should be born from self-responsibility and inner awareness instead of a ‘right-or-wrong’ or ‘us-versus-them’ approach. Koodam aspires to help people build their own justice, since working through differences to find unity and compromise upholds the ideals and Charter of Auroville. For this purpose, Koodam offers various conflict resolution systems. [see side box]

However, Auroville has not yet found a faultless substitute to traditional justice systems. As with many systems in Auroville, conflict resolution continues to be an ever-changing, ever-explored experiment. In addition, Koodam is exploring a shift from solely conflict resolution to conflict transformation – preventing conflict and dealing with foreseeable issues. To adequately address this, Koodam seeks the cooperation of other Auroville bodies and Working Groups, especially in maintaining a balance between rigid policy adherence and the human experience and also in addressing cultural differences where specific mediation techniques could get lost in translation.

The ‘what’ and ‘how’ of Koodam.

Koodam addresses a large variety of conflicts in the community such as divorce and parent/child conflicts; broken relationships between couples or friends; school/parent relationships; neighbour matters; conflicts at the workplace; conflicts between units/services/Working Groups and clients/individuals; territory and city planning disputes; differences in the interpretation and implementation of Auroville’s vision and ideals; and conflicts within Working Groups. When parties cannot sit in the same room together, as in the cases of broken relationships and extremely volatile disagreements, Koodam offers shuttle mediation in which Koodam acts as the middleman, dealing with each party in separate sessions and “shuttling” the discussion back and forth.

Koodam is set up as a referral service, connecting needs with solutions available in the community. Over the years, its work has evolved from doing ‘classic’ mediation to a sort of Aurovilian variety, practicing “the essence” of conflict resolution and adjusting to meet the needs of all the parties involved. It seeks to facilitate an agreement born from the parties themselves through deep listening, mutual understanding and inner work. All services and referrals are offered free of charge, allowing individuals and groups to get the support they need without the constraints of payment. Since it opened in late 2013, Koodam has dealt with a total of 113 conflict cases. Koodam’s office in Kailash provides a neutral and safe space, two important qualities when dealing with sensitive issues

The impact

Early in 2017, Koodam hired an independent research assistant to conduct research and analysis on the impacts of its services. Sixty-one people participated in an online questionnaire or emailed feedback about their experiences with Koodam. Through this feedback, Koodam was able to see in which ways its services had impacted the community, how the role of Koodam in Auroville has evolved, and how the conflict transformation platform could improve and grow in the future.

The analysis showed that there is an increasing desire to involve Koodam earlier in the conflict resolution process [see figure 1]. In 2013, 40% of the mediation cases had one party who refused to participate, while in 2016, that percentage had dropped to 17%. Also the number of processes increased, from nine cases in 2013 to 53 in 2016 – as have the percentage of people willing to try a conflict resolution process with Koodam. Most individuals who walk through Koodam’s door are self-referred, having heard about Koodam via word of mouth instead of through referral by the Auroville Council.

More importantly, Koodam has seen a growing willingness and maturity from the community towards conflict transformation. In some cases, two parties in conflict individually came to Koodam without knowing the other had. Cases in which people acknowledge their own issues – “Can you help me shift my thinking, or should we come for mediation?” – show that there is a shift in communal consciousness towards inner work and personal awareness when conflict surfaces. After mediation, some respondents expressed that they felt that the conflict had helped them in making personal progress, in gaining more understanding and clarity of their own position, a release of tension, the ability to distance themselves from the conflict, and understanding what the actual reasons were behind the conflict.

Though not all its efforts have been successful [see figure 2], the feedback on Koodam’s work has been overwhelmingly positive. The majority of the survey participants perceive Koodam as having a high impact on the Auroville community at large, with all agreeing that the involvement of Koodam had been helpful and more than 80% that Koodam’s processes had been confidential, neutral and impartial towards the conflict and the parties involved. Only one participant felt that Koodam had shown “prejudice from the beginning” and that “throughout the process [there was] unfairness.” Most respondents stated that Koodam’s services embody and bring forward Auroville’s value of human unity and help community members understand each other, especially given the cultural differences in Auroville; raise the bar in interpersonal communication; and help find a solution that all parties can agree upon instead of imposing a verdict-like decision. As many of the respondents felt that Koodam with its three facilitators Elvira, Niva and Mukta was understaffed and overworked, they advised that Koodam expand its human resources and train more people in conflict resolution and facilitation.

What Koodam Offers:

Listening and venting

Listening and support in venting is for people who wish to have somebody listen to their personal feelings, thoughts and experiences in a safe and confidential environment. Advice on how to navigate life within Auroville is given if requested.

Mediation

Mediation is a structured process for solving disputes, accompanied by one or more mediators who act as a neutral third party. The mediators support the disputing parties by creating a safe space in which to have a constructive conversation and reach an agreement that is acceptable to both parties. Mediation as a process aims at restoring relationships by defining the conflict as a challenge the parties share and enabling them to cooperate on a shared solution. Mediation is voluntary, and at any moment either side can decide to stop the process.

Negotiation

Negotiation is a tool used between two or more parties to reach an agreement when their interests or goals seem mutually exclusive. Koodam facilitates both direct and indirect negotiation. While the parties in disagreement interact with each other directly in a direct negotiation, indirect negotiation occurs when the parties nominate a representative to come to the table on their behalf; this is advantageous in situations where emotions are high and people prefer not to engage directly at that given point in time, and where finding a mutually acceptable and workable agreement is more important than restoring a relationship.

Reference to Restorative Circles 

Restorative Circles (RCs) are offered through Restorative Auroville. An RC is a process that holds space for conflict and dialogue within the context of community, and it consists of a series of meetings amongst those involved in a conflict, either directly or indirectly. Through dialogue and reflective listening, the process allows those involved to understand each other at a deeper level, to start to take responsibility for their choices, and to look at how, together, they might contribute to forward movement and constructive change, both on the personal and collective levels.

Koodam refers people to Restorative Auroville when they feel that an RC would be the most suitable process for the conflict. However, in most cases people contact Restorative Auroville directly. In the last one and a half years (since January 2016, Restorative Auroville has facilitated 17 live Circles.)

Arbitration

If parties cannot solve their conflict through mediation, negotiation or RCs, then one or both parties can ask the Auroville Council for an arbitration process. In arbitration, one or more third-party arbiters are entrusted with the responsibility to make a binding decision that brings closure to the conflict situation. When an arbitration process starts, the parties in conflict surrender their responsibility to the collective – represented by the arbiters, who remain neutral – in order to find a solution, accepting that the arbiters’ decision will be final and binding. Given that the Auroville Council is charged with facilitating the actual arbitration process, Koodam’s role in an arbitration is to provide the Auroville Council and arbiters with the support needed to carry out a successful arbitration; this includes setting up meetings and ensuring that proper procedures are followed. Koodam is never involved in arbitration decision-making.

Meeting Design and Facilitation

Meetings are an essential part of Auroville’s governance. Though still unpopular in some quarters of the community as being an unproductive waste of time and energy, more and more Working Groups and teams understand that meetings led by a trained facilitator can lead to purposeful, engaging, face to face conversations that produce stable decisions owned by the collective, which are therefore easy to implement. Koodam offers a facilitation service that can range from creating an agenda with an objective that a facilitator helps the meeting follow, to designing and facilitating a road map of meetings and workshops for strategic and organizational change processes.

Policy and Research Development

In 2015, Koodam drafted a step-by-step conflict resolution policy to guide Aurovilians through conflict situations and establish a commonly agreed upon process to be followed. The draft went through a participatory revision process and was ratified in May 2015. The aim of this policy is to shift the collective attitude away from the concept of a truth-versus-lies judiciary system and towards the ideas of multiple truths, conflict as an opportunity for positive change, and taking personal responsibility to engage with and transform our own challenges.

In addition to policy development, Koodam helps to facilitate various research initiatives. Koodam supported the Auroville Council to draft the “Auroville Appeal Process”, which intends to support fair, open and transparent decision-making processes and encourage accountability from our Working Groups. It provides a framework to meaningfully address individual’s serious dissatisfaction with decisions of Working Groups, and thus helps to harmonize and improve the relationship between Working Groups and the community.

Non-Conflict-Related Meeting Design and Facilitation/Process Support

Throughout 2016, the demand for meeting design and facilitation has grown exponentially. In 2016, Koodam facilitated a total of 68 meetings that were not related to any actual conflicts, in cooperation with the Working Committee, the Funds and Assets Management Committee, the Entry Service, the Entry Task Group, the interim Town Development Council, the Core Group for the Town Development Council restructuring process, the Land Board, the Pool of Arbiters, the Adult Learning Activities, the Auroville Art Services and The Learning Community. 

For more information contact [email protected]