International Online Training Program On Intractable Conflict
	Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, USA

Credibility Demonstrations

Opening Page | Glossary | Menu Shortcut Page

If fact-finding efforts are to be of any value, then the parties must believe them. In the absence of believable or credible facts, the parties will simply believe what they want to believe and make uninformed decisions which often fail to achieve the desired results. To avoid this problem, successful credibility building efforts are essential. These efforts must do three things. First, fact-finding efforts must be honestly conducted and produce reliable results which are worthy of the public's trust.They must be done by competent, qualified experts, who use accepted methods of data collection, analysis, and interpretation.  Second, some mechanism is needed for demonstrating this trustworthiness to the parties.  Although the personal credibility of the experts is one approach, this can be supplemented with a variety of credibility-building procedures such as  oversight, joint fact-finding, or data mediation.  Finally, some mechanism is needed for explaining the information in ways which allow it to be understood and sensibly used to make wise decisions.

Links to Examples

Barbara Gray -- Three Mile Island Citizen Radiation Monitoring Program

This is a description of the aftermath of the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania (U.S.) Residents' fears about potential risks of cleanup activities were high due to distrust of the plant operators and regulators.  The described Citizen Radiation Monitoring Program solved the credibility problem and allowed the clean up to go ahead as planned.

 

Willard Chappell- The Smuggler Mountain Technical Advisory Committee: A Prototype Procedure for Resolving Some Superfund Conflicts -

Smuggler Mountain is a housing development in Colorado that was contaminated with lead from past mining activities. This paper describes a conflict resolution process undertaken to resolve a bitter conflict over appropriate levels of and techniques for hazardous waste cleanup.

Links to Related Sections

Oversight

Joint Fact-Finding

Data Mediation

Technical Primers

Copyright ©1998 Conflict Research Consortium  -- Contact: crc@colorado.edu