Accreditation of dispute resolution professionals

Until recently South Africa did not have a uniform standard of professional accreditation for mediators and arbitrators. Also, no standards existed for the content of training courses, or for trainers, coaches and assessors.

While there is a diversity of views on accreditation, the weight of opinion, both locally and internationally, is towards a uniform system of practitioner accreditation. For a more detailed view regarding the need for accreditation standards see here.

The ACDS launched two of initiatives to address this void. The result of these initiatives was that two voluntary industry organisations were established:

• The Dispute Settlement Accreditation Council ['DiSAC']

  DiSAC determines professional standards and manages accreditation for all dispute settlement practitioners in South Africa (excluding Family Mediation)

• The National Accreditation Board for Family Mediators ['NABFAM']

  NABFAM determines professional standards and manages accreditation for all dispute settlement practitioners in the Family Mediation sector in South Africa

Both these bodies are currently hosted by the ACDS, but their membership consists of industry representatives, and they act autonomously in determining applicable professional standards.