Amballoor Mediation Centre: 180-Day Pilot Programme to Be Formally Launched on 19 September

Amballoor, Ernakulam, Kerala: The 180-day Pilot Programme of the Amballoor Mediation Centre, an initiative to make professional mediation accessible at the neighbourhood level, will be formally launched on Saturday, 19 September 2026, at 10.30 a.m. at the Panchayat Community Hall, Amballoor Pallithazham.

The Amballoor Mediation Centre is a joint initiative of Amballoor Grama Panchayat, Sree Narayana Law College, Poothotta, and The Mediation Society. It aims to provide an accessible forum where people can address suitable disputes early through professional mediation, before they become more entrenched and potentially result in greater personal, social, emotional, and financial costs.

Hon’ble Justice Syam Kumar VM, Judge, High Court of Kerala, will formally launch the Pilot Programme. Sri K. G. Ranjith, President, Amballoor Grama Panchayat, will preside over the function.

As part of the inaugural programme, Smt. Jaya Soman, President, Mulanthuruthy Block Panchayat, will unveil the logo of the Amballoor Mediation Centre. The partner institutions will formally exchange the Memorandum of Understanding in the presence of Smt. Bini Shaji, Zilla Panchayat Member. Sri A. D. Unnikrishnan, Manager, Sree Narayana Law College, will release the public-awareness leaflet prepared for the initiative.

Dr K. R. Reghunathan, Principal, Sree Narayana Law College, Poothotta, will deliver the introductory address. Adv. Rajesh C. Muttath, President of The Mediation Society, will present an overview of the 180-day Pilot Programme, its objectives and implementation framework.

The programme will be open to the public.

A 180-Day Pilot to Test and Develop the Model

The Pilot is intended to test how the Amballoor model works in practice, learn from actual experience, and make necessary improvements as the initiative develops. Key questions include how the community responds to the Centre, what kinds of disputes it brings, which disputes are suitable for mediation, how the Centre's procedures work in practice, and how effectively the three partner institutions can coordinate their complementary roles.

The Pilot, therefore, goes beyond simply providing mediation services. It will proceed through a series of interconnected activities: preparing local leadership, building community awareness and participation, understanding local disputes and dispute-resolution needs, making the Centre operational, providing mediation services in suitable cases, and evaluating the experience to improve the model.

Under the Amballoor model, the three partners bring together their existing strengths. Amballoor Grama Panchayat provides social leadership and connects the initiative with the local community; Sree Narayana Law College provides institutional support, facilities and human resources; and The Mediation Society provides technical leadership in mediation, professional systems, trained mediators and overall coordination.

The experience gained during the 180 days will be used to examine how to develop a sustainable mediation mechanism in Amballoor and whether, with appropriate adaptations, the model can also provide useful learning for similar neighbourhood-level mediation initiatives elsewhere.

Immediately following the formal launch, the Pilot will move into its initial phase, including leadership orientation and community-awareness activities.