Conflict Sensitivity at the Project Level

Pilot Projects

The Conflict Sensitivity Consortium is working to analyse the application of conflict sensitivity at the project level through pilot projects conducted in the three focus countries of: Kenya, Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone.

What is the purpose of the implementation pilots?

The implementation pilot is one discrete part of the wider work of the Conflict Sensitivity Consortium. The objective of the implementation pilot is to document effective methods of improving the conflict sensitivity of NGO project implementation.

In the pilot, we will document information on not only key flashpoints / pitfalls attributed to conflict insensitivity in the project environment (context), but we will also seek to identify and document practical best (and worst) practices in ensuring conflict-sensitive project implementation, focusing on practical ways in which existing systems / actions can be adapted for enhanced conflict sensitivity. In summary we should strive to meet the following:

- To generate evidence-based conflict-sensitive lessons from various phases of pilot implementation
- To identify key interaction indicators from the project through comparative analysis of conflict and project profile/Intervention analysis
- To identify at what stages of the project that conflict-blind decisions occur and how this is checked and adapted
- To devise strategies and options of project re-design and adaptation strategy
- To use the pilot lesson as advocacy messages
- To develop CSA tools/checklists/guidance

Emergency Learning Review

Background

In order to better understand the practical application of conflict-sensitive approaches in emergency response, three consortium agencies - CARE, CAFOD and World Vision - have come together to lead an initiative focusing on their emergency interventions in Haiti, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in response to recent emergencies.

The review recognises that the complexity of the contexts in which emergencies occur, and the speed with which organisations need to react, often leave little opportunity for the use of sophisticated analysis tools or other approaches that might be feasible during a long-term development programme.

Purpose

The objective of this review is to understand if and how conflict-sensitive approaches are currently being applied in rapid-onset emergencies, and develop guidance for operational staff to enhance the conflict sensitivity of future responses. The research will identify practical opportunities to integrate conflict sensitivity across emergency teams, systems and guidance, as well as with other key standards and guidlines used widely in the humanitarian sector. Launch events will be held in the UK, Haiti, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in September and October 2011.

CSA in Emergency Workshop

International Alert hosted an event with a range of NGOs, academic institutions, DFID, FCO and MoD representatives to consider how humanitarian actors leading responses to rapid onset emergencies understand and apply conflict sensitive approaches to their work.

The workshop opened with two presentations from DFID and was followed by small group discussions on specific dilemmas faced in the field. It concluded with recommendations for the sector and the Consortium in particular, which will be taken up in the Emergency Learning Review.

Below is the event report - "Do Conflict Sensitive Approaches Help Us Negotiate the Dilemmas Confronting Us in Rapid-Onset Emergencies?".