Frontline Associates

Course description

This micro-course introduces the Island of Agreements, a practical tool for analysing complex negotiation environments and preparing a constructive dialogue. Participants learn to compare the perspectives of the parties, distinguish facts from norms, and map agreed facts, contested facts, convergent norms and divergent norms. Through a decontextualized humanitarian case and an AI-guided exercise, participants identify the shared ground on which engagement may begin. They then use this analysis to assess whether a negotiation is feasible, timely and operationally realistic, and to prepare for a first meeting with the counterpart. The course emphasizes understanding before advocacy. Its purpose is not to determine immediately who is right, but to identify where purposeful dialogue is possible, which disagreements require attention and how existing areas of agreement can support the search for a workable solution.