Introduction to Conflict Sensitivity

• Conflict sensitivity is applicable everywhere that aid is delivered, but it is especially important in  areas affected by violent conflict, like Sudan.
• Aid is never totally conflict neutral.  Humanitarian principles encourage us to be impartial, neutral and independent, but in many contexts – especially those where there is active or simmering conflict – this is actually impossible or desirable.
• However, aid can save lives and contribute to sustainable development and peace.
• Being conflict sensitive means that we recognize these dynamics happening around us.

• The word ‘conflict’ is one of those words that everyone knows, and uses all the time, but that can mean something a bit different for everyone.
• The first step in this course is to both recognise that fact, as well as establish the working definition that we will use for the remainder of this course.

• What’s the first word or image that comes to mind when you hear the term? How does it differ or align with the term ‘conflict?.
• Violence is one response to conflict, but far from the only one. Yet often we conflate the two, which obscures the ways conflicts are most often managed i.e. without violence.
• Unlike conflict, which is not necessarily harmful, violence refers to: “Actions, words, attitudes, structures or systems that cause physical, psychological, social or environmental damage, and/or prevent people from reaching their human potential”.

• Peace has the capacity to transform conflicts with empathy, without violence, and creatively; a never-ending process.
• Peace, is a ‘capacity’ or an ability, something you can do. It’s a way of managing conflict – one that relies on creativity and empathy, and a willingness to collaborate for solutions to conflict.
• Peace is a “never ending process”.  No society is ever totally at peace. An impossible but integral ideal that will always require work.

Conflict Sensitivity means:

• • Understanding the context
  • Understanding how our work interacts with conflict dynamics
  • Minimising negative impacts of interventions and maximising positive impacts on conflict dynamics

It’s a way of designing and delivering aid that is smart, principled, and context-driven, underpinned by ongoing observation, analysis, learning and adaptation.

• In Sudan, like most places, gender and conflicts interact in countless ways, many of which will have implications for the conflict sensitivity of aid programs.
• Since conflict has a gender dimension, any approach to conflict sensitivity worth its salt will also aim to be gender sensitive.
• This means that conflict sensitivity involves:
  • Understanding the context (including gender roles and conflict)
  • Understanding how our work interacts with conflict dynamics in the context (including gender roles and interactions)
  • Minimising negative impacts of interventions and maximising positive impacts on conflict dynamics; (including for men, women, boys and girls)

•  Social cohesion is a vital humanitarian resource and one we should nurture. This is because in contexts characterised by social tensions rather than cohesion, violence and the humanitarian needs they fuel are FAR more likely to emerge and increase. At the same time social tensions make it far more difficult for such societies and the aid actors working among them to address those needs.
•  By developing social cohesion in the way that we provide aid and development assistance, we can ensure communities are well equipped to deal with hard times, well positioned to receive and distribute aid and reduce the chances that marginalisation of violence with result.

• What does conflict analysis look like in practice?
• From using third party experts and robust data collection to using participatory processes like institutional analysis and informal & unstructured analysis we look at the characteristics and advantages of using all these analysis tools

• Much of our conflict sensitivity impact hinges on the unintended consequences of the way we operate.
• A lack of flexibility in our operational approaches may push us to do things that are not responsive to contextual dynamics.

• When we’re aware of the context and gather regular information across various channels and with different approaches, we are in a better place to know the options, and their consequences.
• Good analysis will help us navigate these dilemmas. The point of conflict sensitivity is not to prevent necessary action, but to take all available measures and analysis into consideration to minimize harm.