Managed Intergroup Contact In Peace-building And Reconciliation
from the Services community were much more positive about meeting local groups. One woman remarked that she was starting to look
forward to the meeting and had begun to realise that “you have to be
quite open-minded and respect others no matter what their background”
(Video Transcript, Holywood Inside, Pre-Contact Workshop 3, 20 May
2013). The initial sense of hesitation and defencelessness is derived from
the individual’s uncertainty regarding the motives, intentions and actions
of others. There is also a slight difference between two groups getting
along and liking one another, and the development of genuine trust. This
nuance is particularly important and successfully addressed by the MCT
approach. Simply bringing individuals and groups together for a short
period of time may increase intergroup liking, but trust is much harder
to gain and subsequently more meaningful in the process of reconciliation. Trust is developed through continued work and preparation in the
pre-contact, single identity workshops, as well as the carefully planned,
managed first contact workshop.
Furthermore, MCT is based on the notion that trust involves taking steps
into the unknown (Borris and Diehl 1998: 207-222). The coordinators of
the FACE project understood that for opposing groups to come together
and explore difficult issues would involve putting themselves in an uncomfortable position. Many women from inside the camps, fearful of the
unknown and distrusting of the outside continue to ignore the separation
that exists and live segregated lives. In order to reach those individuals
that are most afraid and who would benefit most from a pro w&