25 YEARS PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Mediator

Organizational & Workplace; Civil & Commercial; Community Mediaiton - trained in all three.

• Delivers Mediators’ Institute of Ireland approved Certified Mediation Training – clients include The Irish Peace Institute, University of Limerick
• Extensive experience. First to be called in the community and voluntary sector in S.W. Ireland when inter-party or multi-party conflicts need resolution.

        “She has developed an expertise in mediating multi-party disputes.”*

• Broad experience with: government departments; companies; statutory agencies; public authorities; schools; community groups; religious communities; those marginalized and excluded.
• Sound conflict/peace building theoretical base. Acknowledged for achieving an unprecedented and exceptional 94% mark in Civil and Commercial mediation training assessment – this assignment was completed prior to attending the training.   
• Creates a productive, but safe, non-threatening environment for difficult discussions. 
• Adept at listening to the underlying interests and concerns of people in conflict and empowering parties to reach a resolution. “Gerry’s professionalism and experience makes the process of mediation move swiftly to positive resolution.”*

Conflict Prevention and Resolution

• Ireland’s “Troubles” were an important teacher during training and experience with Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation and the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. While engaging in the Ardoyne school conflict I learned that peace must be built at community level.
• Able to pinpoint the core of the conflict - focused and incisive.
• Very clear about the types of interventions that need to be in place to prevent and resolve conflict.
• Can say difficult and challenging things in a diplomatic but truthful way -

“Gerry is always respectful to those with whom she works and yet challenging and direct…this can be a fine balancing act which she achieves extremely well.”*

Organizational and Community Development

• Variety of services: consultancy in community project management and development from project set-up through to implementation, plus any project evaluation needed for funders.
• Management and staff training: communication, team building, policy development, conflict resolution etc

“Gerry is skilled at getting organizations to arrive at practical actions and this is one of the reasons I believe, that she has such a good reputation in organizational development work. If you bring in Gerry O’Sullivan, you will get work done - it won’t be just a talking shop.”*

Facilitator and Trainer

• ”Gerry’s work style is perfectly pitched and solidly grounded in everyday reality.”
• My goal is to empower others:  From Assertiveness training in my early career to Performance Management Appraisal training with large organisations to accredited Mediation training to post grad students in Peace and Development Studies in Limerick University. 

  “Gerry is a super teacher with great passion and patience.”

• Breadth and depth: facilitated or trained many types of groups, from those with disabilities in hearing and speech to asylum seekers to religious communities and companies.
• I employ community development principles in my approach: “She is a highly skilled professional who has the ability to get the most from each group that she works with….her group skills are excellent and her ability to connect with groups is exceptional.”

International Experience

Training & accreditation

• “Evaluation and Assessment of Peace Interventions” INCORE, University of Ulster . 2003
• “Inter-community Mediation in Post Conflict Countries” CSSP Project, Berlin. 2009

Palestine/Israel 2010 and 2011

• Facilitated Christian Peacemaker Teams – Palestine to develop their strategic workplan.
• Directed, filmed and produced a documentary on the arrests, imprisonment and abuses of Palestinian children.
• Volunteered as acting coordinator with Christian Peacemakers Team in Palestine for 2 months.
• Volunteered as an Ecumenical Accompanier (EA) in Israel/Palestine for 3 months in January 2010. The role of an EA is to provide protection by presence, to monitor human rights breaches, to provide support to Palestinian and Israeli peace activists and to engage in public advocacy with government officials, politicians, media and church leaders. Gerry organized a visit of the Irish Ambassador to Israel and the Irish Representative to the Palestinian Authority to Hebron to meet with the Palestinians about whom she wrote and supported, including young boys who had been imprisoned and abused. She was invited to present to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs. She presented to members of the European Parliament and the staff of the European Commission in Brussels.

Serbia 2009

• Member of Mediators Beyond Borders - Partnering for Peace & Reconciliation.
• Assisted Lynn Cole, U.S. lawyer, mediator and arbitrator and founding member of Mediators Beyond Borders, in the delivery of an advanced commercial mediation course to Serb mediators in Beograd, Serbia.
• Assisted in the initiation of a Mediators Beyond Borders University Chapter in Beograd University.
• Researched the development of a training intervention on mediation with Serbs in Kosova.

Northern Ireland 2001

• Engaged, and was invited to live, with the Loyalist Community in the Glenbryn Estate during the Ardoyne school/community dispute in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2001. Assisted the Mediator in conflict resolution work with the committee from the Loyalist community that was managing and directing the events during the street protests. These protests were against the Catholic families using the route through the Loyalist enclave in order to bring their children to school. This work included assisting the Mediator in interviews with the leaders of the loyalist paramilitary groups.

Evaluation

• Conducted over 30 research and qualitative evaluation contracts in the last 15 years.  e.g. the “Health Service Executive’s HAZ Initiative”; Research into the Information Needs of Asylum Seekers and Migrant workers in Millstreet”; KADE “Know Racism Project”, “Southill Domestic Abuse”. 
• My unique skill set in mediation, conflict and evaluation work was brought together with training received in “The Evaluation of Peace Interventions” in University of Ulster, Northern Ireland.
• I work closely with project management and participants when carrying out a brief, while at the same time maintaining the detachment that is necessary to deliver an impartial report.

 “The evaluation reports are of a very high standard…extremely useful working documents that feed into the development and delivery of our initiatives.”*

Media

• Directed and filmed a documentary on the arrests and abuses of Palestinian children – “Stolen Children, Stolen Lives”. Attendance at Huston Summer School.
• Interviewed and contributed to news items and documentaries in relation to EAPPI work in Hebron, West bank – Reuters, LBC and U.S, French, Italian, Icelandic, Swedish and Irish media
• Adapted a parenting training programme for presentation of an 8-week radio series.
• Contributor to local radio when issues related to mediation, parenting, community work are aired.
• Contributed to features on parenting practice and rural community needs in “The Irish Times”;”IT Magazine”; “The Kerryman Newspaper” and RTE National Television.

* Sources available on request.