Ben Schoeman started mediating between employers and employees in agriculture in South Africa in the late 1980s, when legal avenues were limited and relationships fraught. He has been a full time mediator ever since, while also providing a wide range of facilitation, investigation, adjudication and arbitration services.

He formed Just Alternatives a decade ago as a vehicle for his ongoing work in helping parties find better alternatives to conflict. Over the three decades since his practice began, Ben has completed many hours of training in various aspects of Conflict Management, including certified training by the Independent Mediation Services of South Africa (IMSSA), LEADR (Australia), Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators Australia (IAMA), Cinergy (Conflict Coaching), and Relationships Australia (Divorce Settlement Mediation).

He has mediated for over 5000 hours, and arbitrated in more than 100 complex matters in South Africa and elsewhere, in a wide variety of workplace disputes, environmental matters, local government issues, complex multi-party disputes, disputes involving the community, development / land use issues, organisational conflict issues (business, government and NGO’s). Ben has facilitated many small and large, short- and long-term public consultation processes, often involving highly controversial issues and hundreds of participants.

He was engaged with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) in its Sustainable Communities Programme for four years, to design and implement participatory planning processes aimed at transforming struggling communities. Ben has held long term contracts with the Office of the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO), the accountability mechanism for the World Bank Group and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), to conduct various complex, multi-party mediation processes in Uganda and elsewhere.

He continues to mediate, facilitate and conduct public participation processes and conflict management initiatives in Australia and internationally.