Three Years of SHECP Conflict Transformation Curriculum

Note: This post was updated on August 22, 2025 with information about students receiving SHECP's Conflict Transformation Certificate.

2025 is SHECP’s third year offering its Conflict Transformation Curriculum, aimed to equip students, faculty, and practitioners with the theoretical foundations and practical tools needed to navigate the complex interpersonal and systemic conflicts that arise in anti-poverty work. This work on conflict transformation has been made possible with partnership and financial support from the Middlebury Conflict Transformation Collaborative.  

In the previous two iterations of the Conflict Transformation curriculum, SHECP Summer Interns have explored their relationship to and assumptions about conflict and have challenged themselves to see conflict as a powerful force for change. This foundation remained central to this year’s training, but, based on student feedback, saw additions to help interns identify conflict in a wider variety of settings. 

For Year 3, SHECP utilized a “flipped classroom” approach, transforming the previous “Conflict Transformation 101” session into a collection of short videos and activities to be completed independently, so that the synchronous session could be devoted to skill-building and practice.

Each “Conflict Transformation 101” video was accompanied by reflection prompts, encouraging learners to connect theory to their own experiences and to consider how conflict might arise in their upcoming internship. Then, in the hands-on workshop, interns were able to learn and try new tools for handling different types of conflicts in an emotionally neutral setting. The skills participants practiced included active listening and paraphrasing, reframing evaluations as observations, identifying positions versus underlying needs, and using nonviolent communication to express needs and make requests.

During the summer, interns completed three assignments challenging them to reflect on and analyze specific conflicts or barriers they witness during their internship. They considered the needs of various stakeholders and reflected on how existing relationships or structures might play an important role in the efficacy of a proposed solution.

This summer, 57 SHECP Summer Interns completed the full Conflict Transformation curriculum—videos, reflections, the workshop, and summer assignments—and received a certificate in Conflict Transformation from SHECP.

This credential recognizes the time, thought, and skill students invested this summer into examining their own relationship with conflict, recognizing various sources of conflict in different settings, and exploring individual and collective strategies to use conflict as a force for change. The curriculum is designed to provide the theoretical foundations and practical tools needed to navigate complex interpersonal and systemic conflicts within any career, particularly within anti-poverty work.

At SHECP, our mission is to foster the next generation of thoughtful, resilient leaders in the fight against poverty. It is our hope that our Conflict Transformation Curriculum can empower our students, as scholars, practitioners, and community members to transform conflict into constructive collaboration.