You want the whole method
The cornerstone volume holds the complete methodology: principles, phases, instruments and pathways in one book. Start here if you intend to build the discipline, not just survive one dispute.
The library
Ten books, every side of the same table
Each volume writes the same discipline for a different reader: the mediator running the process, the practitioner absorbing the pressure, the community negotiating its future, and the board that signs the decision off. The cornerstone volume, Social Accord Architecture, holds the whole method in one book. The last of them, Legacy Grievances and Historical Claims, closes the series where the others stop: the harm still standing after the operation, the mechanism and the company have all gone.
Which side of the table are you on?10 of 10 volumes
Social Accord Architecture
The Methodology for Building Durable Agreements Between Industrial Projects and Communities
The founding text of the discipline: the complete methodology for building durable agreements between industrial projects and communities.
241 pages16 chapters in 5 parts24 figures, 37 tablesMediating Extractive Conflicts
A Practitioner's Handbook for Company-Community Disputes
The practitioner's handbook for mediating company-community disputes in the extractive and energy sectors.
651 pages19 chapters53 visual frameworksISBN 978-989-36770-0-1The Human Shock Absorber
A Survival Guide for Community Relations Practitioners
The first book to tell the story of the practitioners who absorb the tension so that projects and communities can coexist.
225 pages15 chapters in 4 partsISBN 978-989-36770-1-8When the Mine Arrives
An Insider's Guide for Communities Negotiating with Extractive Industries
The negotiation guide written for the side of the table that usually arrives without lawyers.
483 pages18 chapters5 appendicesRebuild Grounds
A Mining-Focused Mediation Practitioner's Methodology
The two frameworks at the center of Social Accord Architecture, and the instrument that tells you which one a dispute needs.
5 parts23 chapters25 case examples15 figuresSocial Risk for Boards
An Executive Handbook on Social Risk Governance
How to govern social performance with the rigor a board already applies to safety and capital.
11 chapters4 appendicesBoard templates includedStanding in the Middle
100 Field Practices for Mediating Between Mines and Communities
One hundred practical moves, each short enough to read before a meeting and concrete enough to use that same afternoon.
174 pages100 single-page practices5 parts, 22 chaptersPractitioner's Quick Index and Crisis PagesNavigating Human Rights Due Diligence
A Compliance-to-Engagement Implementation Guide
The legal and compliance volume of the library: mandatory human rights due diligence turned into working business processes.
239 pages13 chapters in 4 parts14 figures, 19 tablesGlossary and standards crosswalkGrievance Mechanisms That Work
Designing and Operating Effective Non-Judicial Remedies
The operational handbook for building a grievance mechanism that resolves cases instead of logging them.
187 pages10 chapters in 5 parts6 appendices13 figuresISBN 978-989-49072-7-5Legacy Grievances and Historical Claims
A Guide to Post-Operational Dispute Resolution
What to do about harm that outlived the operation, the grievance channel and the company that caused it.
238 pages9 chapters in 4 parts5 appendices15 figuresISBN 978-989-49072-9-9
Where to start
Reading paths
Nobody needs all ten. Find the line that describes you and start there.
You have a hard meeting this week
One hundred one-page practices, each with a boxed line you can carry into the room. Read the Crisis Pages first if the meeting is already boiling over.
You mediate, or you want to
Start with the handbook for the craft, then take the methodology for the process decision that comes before the first session.
You are the person in the middle
Start with the one about the job itself, because most practitioners read it and realize they are not the only one. Then the handbook for the technique.
You are a community facing a project
This one was written for your side of the table. Read chapter one before the next meeting with the company.
You sit on the board
Two hours, no operational detail. It tells you what to ask management and how to read the answer.
You answer to the CSDDD
Or to the German Supply Chain Act, or the French Duty of Vigilance Law. This one turns the legal obligation into a programme you can build, current with the law after the 2026 Omnibus reforms.
You inherited someone else’s harm
A closure, an acquisition, or a claim about something that happened before your tenure. Start with the guide to legacy claims for the liability and the pathway, then the mediation methodology for the trauma cases that will not settle on standard terms.
You run a grievance mechanism
Start with the handbook: co-design, intake, the 6-Step Process, and the health check that tells you where your mechanism stands today. Then the field companion for the person actually sitting at the intake desk.
About the series
These ten are not ten books about ten topics. They are one discipline, written for the people who have to act on it: the mediator, the practitioner in the middle, the community at the table, the board that signs it off, and the professional who wants to do this properly.
That discipline is Social Accord Architecture, built over fifteen years of resolving disputes across Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and Latin America. The cornerstone volume, carrying the name, is the complete statement of the method. The others each take one seat at the table and go deep: Standing in the Middle is the field companion, one hundred practices sized for the walk between the car and the meeting, Navigating Human Rights Due Diligence is the legal and compliance volume for the teams now answering to the CSDDD and its national counterparts, Grievance Mechanisms That Work is the operations manual for the remedy system all of them depend on, and Legacy Grievances and Historical Claims, the volume that closes the series, is what you reach for when the harm is older than everyone in the room.
The method behind the booksIf the relationship around a project is under pressure, or heading there, let us talk.
A 30-minute call is enough for me to understand the situation and tell you honestly whether I can help. Active opposition, a social license problem, an FPIC process that needs an independent facilitator, a negotiation a community has to prepare for, or a conflict that is not public yet but will be. It makes no difference which side of the table you are on. No obligation, no generalist pitch.
Every first conversation is confidential.