The Foreign Service Journal, January 2006

J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 33 F O C U S O N F S R E T I R E M E N T A N NGO TO P ROMOTE M ULTI -T RACK D IPLOMACY F OUNDING AN NGO TO PROMOTE A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO ETHNIC AND REGIONAL PEACE - BUILDING OFFERS CHALLENGES AND REWARDS . B Y J OHN W. AND C HRISTEL G. M C D ONALD ebruary 1987. After 40 years in the Foreign Service it was time to retire, said the gov- ernment, enforcing the mandatory retirement age. We decided to remain in the Washington, D.C., area. John’s first post-FS foray was into academia: teaching courses at The George Washington University’s Law School on multilateral negotiation and conflict resolution (the latter not yet a field in its own right). In addition, he was senior adviser to George Mason University’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and taught and lec- tured at the Foreign Service Institute and the Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs on multilateral negotiation and the United Nations and its specialized agencies. In the fall of 1988, John accepted the position of pres- ident of the Iowa Peace Institute, an independent NGO in Grinnell, Iowa. The three-year contract, running from January 1989 to the end of 1991, led to a wonderful opportunity to see the world through the eyes of Midwesterners, and to work in an environment very sup- portive of teaching and applying the skills of conflict res- olution in ethnic and regional conflicts around the world. John was also able to introduce peer mediation in schools, as well as conflict resolution training for teachers statewide. Christel, meanwhile, obtained her M.A. in his- tory from the University of Iowa in 1990. A New NGO After returning to Washington in the spring of 1992, John and Dr. Louise Diamond co-founded the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, based on a book they wrote together in 1991, Multi-Track Diplomacy: A Systems Approach to Peace (Kumarian Press, 3rd edition 1996). There was no money, no office — just a good idea to help in a small way to contribute to building social peace in the world. After the paperwork of incorporation (and a payment of $25) in the District of Columbia, and with the help of friends, office space was found and, thanks to some initial funding from our own pockets, IMTD became a reality. Its mission is to promote a systems approach to ethnic and regional peacebuilding, and to facilitate the transformation of deep-rooted social con- flict (www.imtd.org ). In the years that followed, IMTD initiated and facili- tated a series of conflict-resolution and conflict-transfor- mation projects in Cyprus, Israel-Palestine, Georgia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Great Lakes region of East Africa, Liberia, Nepal, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Libya, India, Pakistan and Kashmir, and with the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile. In addition, John is involved in drinking water and sanitation issues, as water and peace are deeply related. F