What is the incentive for Defense v Pro se Plaintiff in the Assisted Mediation Program?

The incentive for participation in ANY mediation prior to trial or during a litigation is that the parties might reach an agreement and avoid the time and expense of trial. If you are the pro se party, even if you are not represented throughout the action, I would encourage you to secure a consultation with a local lawyer to assist you in preparing your case for mediation - know what elements you must prove, organize your evidence, and make an offer of settlement that makes it clear you are informed. If you are well prepared, the defense is more likely to take you seriously and be willing to settle on a reasonable basis. Part of your preparation will be knowing what settlement is in the acceptable range for you and what is not in the acceptable range for you.

the parties get a view from a neutral who unlike the judge can express a view early on about the merits, who is correct, and the settlement value of the case. The rest is up to the parties on whether they want to settle.

The incentive is that you have an opportunity to settle your matter outside of the court process. Generally, mediation can lead to a quicker and less costly result. Often, parties are dissatisfied with decisions made by the court and most of the time that is due to the fact that judges do not understand the case as well as you do, or the court does not have enough time to determine a reasonable outcome. However, in mediation, you have the opportunity to be creative and perhaps do things that a court cannot do. Keep an open mind if you go to mediation and hopefully the mediator will be able to guide you to a mutually agreeable solution.

Mediation can allow the parties to help craft a resolution to their conflict, and if successful, will resolve the problem far faster than protracted litigation. It also is not binding - if the parties do not reach an agreement, there is no loss, other than the cost of mediation (if any) and the time you put into it.