CONFLICT SENSITIVITY APPROACH

Definition of conflict

Wasmuth (1996, 180-181):

A social fact in which two parties (individuals, groups, states) are involved and who: strive for incompatible goals to begin

with;

strive for the same goal which can only be reached by one party; and or

Want to employ incompatible means to achieve a certain goal.

Working definition

A relationship between two or more parties (individuals or groups), who have or think they have, incompatible goals.

The result of conflict may not be always negative.

Conflict sensitivity Conflict Sensitivity is defined as the

capacity to:

Understand the context in which a project operates;

Understand the interactions between project operations and the context; and

Act upon the understanding of this interaction in order to avoid negative impacts and maximize positive impacts on the context and intervention.

Conflict Sensitiv

ity

Development and Conflict Sensitivity

Development Dark side/ Negative

risk

Conflict

“Development is not only affected by conflict – it often has an effect on conflict too.”

Humanitarian

Assistance

Development

• Poverty and inequality reduction• Investment in shared security• Investment in shared prosperity• Peace and security • Human development• Achieving MDGs/P2015DA

• Enlarging people's choices• Enhancing human capabilities and freedoms thereby enabling them to

Long and healthy lifeAccess to knowledgeDecent standard of

livingParticipation in the life of

communityPromote peaceSustain developmentAttain prosperity

Multidimensional

Intended towards

something positive

Dead Aid: Dambisa Moyo

“… in a seemingly never-ending corruption, disease, poverty, and aid-dependency”.

Western belief - the rich should help the poor “… the reality is that aid has helped make

the poor poorer, and the growth slower”. “.. It’s a kind of curse because it

encourages corruption and conflict…”.

Post 2015 Development Agenda

Vision: The future we

want… for all* Equity* Sustainability* Human rights

Environmental

Sustainability

Peace and

Security

Inclusive Social

Development

Inclusive

Economic

Development

• Protecting biodiversity• Stable climate • Universal access to clean

water and sanitation

• Adequate nutrition for all

• Quality education for all

• Reduced mortality and morbidity

• Gender equality

• Adequate social protection

• Freedom from violence, conflict and abuse

• Resillence to natural hazards• Conflict- free access to natural

resources

Source: Ebong, 2013

• Eradicating income poverty and hunger

• Reducing inequalities

• Ensuring decent work and productive employment

Why CS in Nepal?

Three Year Plan (2013/14-2015/16) Peace, reconstruction, rehabilitation, aid

effectiveness Peace and Development Strategy (2010-

15) High level forum on Aid Effectiveness,

Accra, 2008 South and south triangular cooperation

Focus on Development Effectiveness, Busan, 2011 Inclusive global partnership

Conflict Sensitivity Analysis Tools

Do No Harm (DNH)

Peace and Conflict Impact

Assessment

Peace-building Tool

Strategic Conflict Assessment

Conflict Analysis Framework

Do No Harm

A simple and widely accepted instrument of CS.

It was developed from the experience of development and humanitarian workers.

Developed by Mary B. Anderson and Collaborative for Development Action (CDA).

Do No Harm

It is possible – and useful – to apply DNH in conflict-prone, active conflict and post-conflict situations.

It can be used to plan/design, monitor and evaluate public service, humanitarian and development assistance programs.

It helps us see how decisions we make affect intergroup relations.

Seven steps of DNH Framework

1. Understanding the context

2. Analyzing dividers or sources of tension

3. Analyzing connectors or local capacities for peace

4. Analyzing the assistance program/project/intervention

5. Analyzing the assistance program’s impact on dividers & connectors (using RT and IEM)

6. Considering (and generating) programming options

7. Test programming options and redesign project

Step I: Understanding the context

Societies have groups with different interests and identities that contend with other groups.

Profile analysis, causes analysis, actors analysis and dynamics analysis

There are many tools to analyze the context. The three most useful are timeline, actor mapping and conflict tree

Step II: Analyzing dividers or sources of tension

•Factors that people are fighting about or cause tension among individuals or groups.

Step III: Analyzing connectors or local capacities for peace

•Factors that bring people together and/or tend to reduce tension among individuals/groups.

Step IV: Analyzing the assistance programme

Why? Where? What? When? With

whom? By whom? How?

Step V: Analyzing the Assistance Program’s Impact on D & C (using RT and IEM)

Assistance is a vehicle for providing resources to people who need them.

Resource transfers

The transfers of resources (i.e. money, goods, and services) from one entity to another.

Resources in a conflict environment represent wealth and power and thus may become part of the conflict.

Implicit Ethical Messages (IEM)

Assistance may carry IEMs determined by the way resources have been generated and distributed.

IEMs are often unrecognized by the providers but could easily be misinterpreted by the recipients.

These are the effects of institutional and individual behaviours, actions and attitudes on the context.

Step VI: Considering (and generating) programming options

We must think about how to provide the same program in a way that eliminates or minimizes its negative (conflict-worsening) impacts.

If we realize that we have overlooked the local peace capacities or connectors then we should redesign our program in order to strengthen the connectors.

Step VII: Test programming options and redesign project

Once we have selected better programming options based on the previously discussed issues, it is crucial to re-check the impacts of our new approach on the dividers and connectors.

Necessary Action

Development

assistance Development

Conflict sensitive programme design

•Too many slices•Too many donors•High transaction costs

•Ownership•Alignment•Harmonization •Result based monitoring •Mutual accountability•Produce more value per NPR•Transparent

•Understanding ContextInteraction between intervention and context•Action to avoid negative impacts and maximize positive one

Conflict sensitive

development

Conclusion

Let’s act conflict sensitively.