Giving Back Through Mediation
When mediation works, communities change. EMpower is how EMA helps make that happen.
Bruce Edwards has spent more than 40 years resolving conflicts, and he has always believed that the skills that work in a boardroom or a courtroom can work anywhere: in communities, in courts of law, in countries rebuilding after violence. EMpower is Edwards Mediation Academy’s commitment to putting those skills where they are needed most.
Through EMpower, EMA provides training, course development, and financial support to organizations and institutions working to make mediation a real and lasting part of how conflict gets resolved, in the United States and around the world.
Supporting Ukrainians Through Conflict
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Edwards Mediation Academy has partnered with the Ukrainian Academy of Mediation and the Ukrainian Center of Mediation through the EU Project “CONSENT”.
EMA’s International Mediation Training for Ukrainians program is open to all Ukrainians, whether living in Ukraine or abroad. To date, close to 200 Ukrainians have completed the training, with 800 enrolled. The program is offered at no cost to participants.
The goal is practical and urgent: to help Ukrainians resolve the conflicts that displacement and war create every day: with host families, with authorities, between schools and families, and to support Ukrainian mediators whose experience and skills are urgently needed in their communities.
Working With Judiciaries and Governments Worldwide
One of EMA’s deepest commitments is helping countries build mediation into their legal and judicial systems, not as a concept, but as a working practice.
EMA works directly with judiciaries, courts, and government officials to understand where each country’s system currently stands and to develop a practical path forward. That work has taken Bruce Edwards and EMA to Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, and The Gambia, as well as earlier programs in India, Mexico, and Turkey.
Judges and judiciary members always train with EMA at no charge. Always.
Rwanda has been a particular focus, with an ongoing partnership reflecting a long term commitment to building durable mediation capacity within the Rwandan justice system.
Investing in Future Mediators
EMA supports law school mediation competitions by donating courses and training to winners, giving the next generation of mediators access to world class instruction at the start of their careers. EMA has supported competition winners in Singapore, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, with more countries to be added.
Partnership with Convergence
Convergence Center for Policy Resolution does some of the hardest work in conflict resolution, bringing together deeply divided communities around America’s most painful policy disputes. EMA has supported Convergence since 2017 through financial donations and, more meaningfully, by helping Convergence develop online courses that allow them to scale their work and reach more communities.
Interested in Working With EMpower?
If your organization, court system, or government is working to bring mediation into your community or legal system, we would like to hear from you.