The Round Table for Mediation and Conflict Management of the German Economy (RTMKM) has named CMI the winner of its 2026 Innovation Prize for Mediation and Conflict Management at an award ceremony in Frankfurt am Main on 22 September.
CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation has won a prize for innovation in mediation and conflict management for its AI-supported consultation that increased young people’s participation in its work with Yemeni political parties.
Felix Kufus (fourth left) at the prize ceremony. He led CMI’s development and implementation of the approach.
The prize by the Round Table for Mediation and Conflict Management of the German Economy recognises innovative approaches that promote alternative dispute resolution or conflict prevention.
Eligible innovations could be procedural, substantive, technical or non-technical, but had to be theoretically grounded, already applied in practice and respond to a recognisable demand.
“Digital innovation is most valuable when it helps us hear voices that might otherwise go unheard,” said Johanna Poutanen, Head of CMI’s Inclusion and Digital Innovation team.
“This award recognises an approach that combines technological innovation with the principles that guide all effective peacemaking: inclusion, transparency, trust, and respect for human agency.”
She added: “Technology can widen participation, but it should never replace dialogue or determine outcomes.”
CMI was awarded for an AI-supported consultation with young members of Yemeni political parties, carried out as part of its work with the parties on a shared vision for the country. The consultation tool was developed by CMI’s Digital Peacemaking team.
“Digital innovation is most valuable when it helps us hear voices that might otherwise go unheard” – Johanna Puotanen
RTMKM is an association of companies that promotes the understanding and use of alternative dispute resolution, particularly mediation, and supports companies in developing conflict management systems. The prize is under the patronage of the German Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection, Dr Stefanie Hubig.
Digital Peacemaking Advisor Felix Kufus, who led CMI’s development and implementation of the approach, commented:
“Being recognised by conflict management practitioners from German companies shows that a question we face in peace processes also comes up in organisations: how can more people take part in a negotiation process without it becoming unworkable? Our approach combines the qualitative depth of a conversation with quantitative scale.”
The approach was developed for a situation in which young members of Yemeni political parties could not be brought together in person. CMI instead reached participants through a WhatsApp chatbot and used an AI-supported sensemaking tool to analyse their responses.
The digital consultation was carried out from January to March 2025. It reached 150 participants from 17 of Yemen’s 21 governorates, representing diverse political parties. Participants responded to ten open questions in Yemeni Arabic by text or voice message. Around 60 per cent chose to respond by voice, while 94 per cent answered all ten questions.
The responses were transcribed, translated and stored anonymously. CMI adapted the open-source Talk to the City tool to analyse the material, thereby identifying themes, arguments, areas of agreement and points of disagreement. Each argument identified by the tool could be traced back to the original response.
The results were then shared with the young participants and party representatives to inform the next steps of the process.
The approach allowed CMI to gather and analyse a large number of perspectives while complementing its in-person dialogue work. Rather than technology replacing dialogue, the methodology provided another way of connecting people to a political process when meeting in person was not possible.
Three finalists were invited to present their work to a jury of business representatives with experience in alternative dispute resolution and an academic representative. The jury assessed both the written applications and the finalists’ presentations.
Felix Kufus presented CMI’s pioneering work to the jury and collected the award on the organisation’s behalf.
