Impressions from the 'Excellent Grassroots Mediator' Contest
(Baonghean.vn) - The "Excellent Mediator" competition at all levels was held for more than 30 days, with 3 rounds, attracting 21 teams from districts, cities and towns in the province to compete. Thereby, creating a positive effect and spreading the importance of mediation work in each locality.
100% of districts, cities and towns responded
Currently, the province has 3,876 mediation teams, with 26,402 mediators. On average, each year, it receives mediation for more than 4,000 cases, of which 3,000 cases are successfully mediated (accounting for more than 80%). This proves that mediation work at the grassroots level is playing an increasingly important role in social life.
In order to contribute to the effective implementation of the Law on Grassroots Mediation, as well as raise the awareness of the whole society about the position, role and significance of this work, the Provincial People's Committee issued Plan 387/KH-UBND on organizing the 5th "Excellent Mediator" Contest in the province. Immediately after the Organizing Committee of the Contest issued the plan, within July 2023, 21 districts, cities and towns in the province deployed the "Excellent Mediator" Contest locally. Of which, 4/21 units organized the contest from the commune cluster level; 4/21 units organized the contest cluster at the district level and 13/21 teams organized the contest for commune-level units at the district level. The organization of the contest at the grassroots level has received the consensus, support and attracted a large number of people to participate, contributing to improving the effectiveness of legal propaganda work in the area.
As one of the localities with difficult terrain, from the beginning of August 2023, Ky Son district has chosen to organize a joint competition for commune-level units in the district, with the participation of 13 teams, representing 191 mediation teams and 1,066 mediators in the area.
Ms. Vi Thi Duyen - mediator of Ky Son team said: "To prepare for the competition, we started practicing and scheduling the district-level competition from the end of July. From there, we selected the best team to participate in the preliminary round at the provincial level. Many members of the team are Mong ethnic people, living nearly 30 km from the district center but still try to drive down early to practice with the team every week". Thanks to that spirit, Ky Son district became one of the three best units in region 3 to participate in the provincial finals.
Thanh Chuong district launched the competition from the commune level, then selected 38 best teams, with 152 mediators representing 234 groups, 1,719 mediators in the area to participate in the district-level competition. The competition has become a meaningful professional playground for mediators to learn knowledge, experience, and mediation skills at the grassroots level...
After the district-level competitions ended, within a week, the Organizing Committee of the Provincial "Excellent Mediator" Competition held the Preliminary Round in 3 areas: Vinh City, Do Luong District and Thai Hoa Town, with the participation of 21 best teams from the whole province. Thereby, 12 excellent teams were selected to participate in the final round.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan - Deputy Director of the Department of Justice, Head of the Jury of the contest said: The 5th time the "Excellent Mediator" contest was held at the provincial level attracted 100% of districts, cities and towns to participate. In particular, many units organized contests from the commune level to select the best team to participate in the district level contest. This proves that mediation work has been paid attention to by Party committees and authorities at all levels and welcomed by the majority of people.
Lots of creative, engaging content
The 5th "Excellent Mediator" Contest is expected to be an opportunity for mediators at the grassroots level to meet, exchange experiences and improve their legal knowledge, mediation skills and thereby, improve their ability to handle situations in practice. Therefore, all contests are flexibly changed and information technology is thoroughly applied, thereby ensuring objectivity and maximum support for the judges in the judging process from the preliminary round to the final round.
The teams had to go through 4 rounds (introduction, legal knowledge, situation handling and skit). In the introduction round, the teams brought the typical colors of each locality, expressing the regional identity, the characteristics and situation of mediation work at the grassroots level, behind which was the love for the homeland, the country, the pride and the sense of responsibility for the work they were undertaking.
In the legal knowledge section, the teams demonstrated their understanding of the law and regulations related to mediation work at the grassroots level through 10 questions given by the Organizing Committee. The questions were presented in multiple choice format on the Kahoot application, requiring each team to answer correctly but also quickly in order to get high scores in this section.
For the situation handling competition, the teams must adhere to the provisions of the law with rich life experience and social knowledge, especially the traditional moral values of the nation; closely and harmoniously combine reason and emotion to propose a solution to reconcile conflicts and disputes in a reasonable and appropriate manner, helping the parties to perceive right and wrong, see their rights and obligations, and thereby voluntarily choose appropriate, humane and responsible measures of behavior.
The most exciting part of the contest was the skit competition. The teams incorporated stories and disputes that often occur in the locality, such as family marriage,land dispute, assets… into an attractive, humorous, and close-to-life skit.
As the youngest actor participating in the contest, Vu Pa Ri (born in 2009), residing in Huoi Giang 1 village, Tay Son commune (Ky Son) excellently portrayed the main character in the skit "Let's get married, Pao" of the Ky Son team, helping viewers visualize the tragicomedy of the 14-year-old Pao who was forced by her parents to drop out of school to marry a relative.
Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Head of the Justice Department of Ky Son district said: "The skit is based on real situations in the area, such as the bad customs of early marriage, incestuous marriage, male preference, and female contempt... Through this, we want to send a message about building a civilized lifestyle and eliminating bad customs that still exist in the community."
As the team that won the first prize in the provincial final round, Thai Hoa Team spent many days practicing hard in many different communes and mobilized local people to come and watch and give their comments. This not only helped the team to supplement the missing and weak points to complete the competition well, but also provided an opportunity for local people to understand and improve their legal knowledge and the importance of mediation work.
According to the Organizing Committee, the skits of the competing teams all have clear, practical themes and messages, closely related to life. Although the actors are not professionals, they tried to express the situations in a humorous way, transforming into many different lives, very close to life.
Speaking at the final round of the 5th "Excellent Mediator" Contest of Nghe An Province in 2023, Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee emphasized: The contest is not only an opportunity to discover, commend and honor excellent mediators; create opportunities for mediators to learn, exchange experiences, accumulate legal knowledge, but also a bridge to contribute to raising awareness of the whole society about the position and role of grassroots mediation work, bringingreconcileassociated with the lives of every citizen.
The success of the contest once again affirmed the profound social and humanistic significance of mediation work in today's life. The contest has truly brought good emotions and impressions about people and humanity in resolving conflicts and disputes arising from daily life, building stronger village and neighborhood relationships; promoting the tradition of solidarity, mutual love, mutual assistance in the community. At the same time, it contributes to disseminating the law to all classes of people, preventing and limiting violations of the law, stabilizing order and social security in the province.
