The Peacemaker Project is aimed primarily at schools. Our goal is to increase the conflict competence of school leaders, educators and learners and in particular to equip learners with peer mediation skills.

The benefits of conflict competence are manifold, including enhancing the teaching experience by enabling leaders and educators to respond to conflict in the classroom more effectively, and by equipping learners with skills to manage their emotions and to respond to conflict more constructively. Learners are trained in peer mediation skills, empowering them to manage conflicts between their peers.

Peer mediation is well established in schools around the world. Read the recent report by the Civil Mediation Council in the UK on Resolving Conflict in Schools – Peer mediation as a foundation for happier, healthier futures

Hear about our peer mediation project and watch peer mediators in action HERE

Four CDET peer mediation trainers conducted a two-day peer mediation training with APAX school in May 2025. The headmaster of the school said of the training:

"At APAX, our vision has always been to develop learners who will become meaningful contributors and benefactors to society. As such, this initiative represented far more than a two-day programme. Through this collaboration, we sought to empower not only our learners but the broader APAX community, and CDET delivered exceptionally in this regard. The peer mediation training equipped our learners with the skills to resolve conflict peacefully, communicate with empathy, and lead with integrity and compassion. Beyond mediation itself, the programme cultivated confidence, effective communication, emotional intelligence, and responsible leadership, empowering our learners to become ambassadors of positive change and peace-makers within both the school environment and the wider community. We are tremendously grateful to CDET for investing in the future of our learners and for contributing meaningfully to the culture of excellence we strive to uphold at APAX.”

We conducted peer mediation training for three Gauteng schools in 2023. The training was attended by 36 learners and two teachers from each school. The learners were trained as peer mediators, and the teachers observed the training so that they could implement the peer mediation program in their schools in the future and support the mediators. This initiative was led by Siham Boda.

The Peacemaker Project worked with a school in Phoenix following the violence in KZN in 2022. A group of 41 teachers attended a conflict management course conducted by Conflict Dynamics trainers, James Taylor and Nomonde Keswa. Read James Taylor's Blog.

"This (training) needs to be rolled out across the board in schools if we want to change the ethos of violence in our communities" - Popsy Pillay: a teacher and participant on the course.

"An excellent course equipping staff with necessary skills to negotiate very real situations that are encountered on a daily basis" - D A Pillay: a teacher and participant on the course.

In this video, Siham Boda and Felicity Steadman talk with Emma van den Berg, a school-based psychologist specialising in working with adolescents. They explore different types of conflicts that arise in schools and discuss effective strategies for managing them. Watch the video HERE

Watch the video in which Felicity Steadman, Director of Conflict Dynamics, discusses with experts various school-based conflict management initiatives currently underway in South Africa and the UK.