The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a multi-million dollar a year charitable organization dedicated to nonviolence and the recognition of the human dignity inherent in every person.

The Quaker focus on consensus-based decision making, equality, and universal participation in public service underpins the organization’s business model.  The challenge of this project is to develop a set of decision-making and dispute management procedures for the organization, including a way to coordinate national strategic priorities with regional programming, in a way that promotes effective service delivery while also honoring the Friends’ core values.

Our work

Step 1: Conduct an analysis of the current way in which conflicts are handled at the AFSC (possibly a multi-semster endeavor).

Step 2: Working with the advice of the Deputy General Secretary of the AFSC, conduct a thorough literature review.

Step 3: Conduct a series of stakeholder interviews, focusing on the effectiveness, popular acceptance and accessibility of the dispute resolution process and the Ombudperson’s office.

Final Product

Based on the team’s analysis of the current strengths and weaknesses of the AFSC’s management model, the team will make a process recommendation for designing a system that will build on what already exists while also addressing the system’s shortcomings.