International Modern Perspectives on Academia and Community Today (IMPACT) ISSN 2632-7287 (Online) https://doi.org/10.36949/impact.v1i2.50 *Correspondence: Nadia Kornioti nkornioti1@uclan.ac.uk Citation: Kornioti, N. and Antoniou, K. (2022). Social Mediation as a Grassroots Method Fostering Sustainable Community Collaboration. International Modern Perspectives on Academia and Community Today. Advance online publication: https://doi.org/10.36949/impact.v1i2.50 1 Social Mediation as a Grassroots Method Fostering Sustainable Community Collaboration Nadia Kornioti* School of Law, University of Central Lancashire, Cyprus (UCLan Cyprus) Katerina Antoniou School of Business and Management, University of Central Lancashire, Cyprus (UCLan Cyprus) Received 11/05/2022 Accepted for publication 04/08/2022 Published 03/10/2022 Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Dr. Natalie Alkiviadou and the UCLan Cyprus students for initiating this project during the 2017-2018 academic year, Prof. Stephanie Laulhe Shaelou and ICLAIM who invited us to become members of the project team, and everyone who has been supporting and contributing to the development of this project since then, through their participation in the social mediation workshops. Abstract This article introduces social mediation as a non-formal dispute resolution process and a widely applicable conflict resolution tool. Placed in a theoretical framework on conflict resolution and intergroup contact, social mediation is discussed in its capacity to provide an inclusive, grassroots approach to build sustainable social bonds and community resilience. The article employs an autoethnographic methodological angle and examines how social mediation was used in Cyprus through a series of workshops that engaged members from across the geographically de facto partitioned communities of the ethnically divided Mediterranean island. So far, findings suggest that social mediation is effective in empowering citizens from across cultures and professional affiliations to engage with social conflict resolution and foster sustainable peace. Keywords: Conflict resolution, Social Mediation, Sustainable communities, Peacebuilding 1. Introduction The purpose of this article is to introduce social mediation as a non-formal conflict resolution tool that empowers everyday citizens to engage with the resolution of a social conflict through non-legal and non-political routes. The findings and discussion are based on a series of social mediation workshops and activities undertaken in Cyprus from May 2018 to January 2022 as part of a project initiative aiming to deliver the tool to prospective social mediators. The project engaged participants from a plethora of diverse backgrounds, including participants from across the island’s geographically partitioned communities – Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The workshops were interactive in nature and introduced participants to the tool of social mediation both through the theory and rationale behind its application, as well as through simulated work, for which participants became either the mediator or a disputant in a realistic conflict scenario. The workshops concluded with reflection and evaluation of the tool by participants, and discussions on its applicability within the Cypriot context. For the purposes of the social mediation project, the term ‘social mediation’ was defined as: A process for creating and repairing social bonds, leading to peaceful resolutions of conflicts in daily life in which an impartial and independent party seeks, by organising exchanges between persons and institutions,