Conflict sensitive approaches to development, humanitarian assistance and peace building

2.1 Profile

A conflict profile provides a brief characterisation of the context within which the intervention will be situated.

**Box 1: Key questions for a conflict profile**
What is the political, economic, and socio-cultural context? eg physical geography, population make-up, recent history, political and economic structure, social composition, environment, geo-strategic position. What are emergent political, economic, ecological, and social issues? eg elections, reform processes, decentralisation, new infrastructure, disruption of social networks, mistrust, return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), military and civilian deaths, presence of armed forces, mined areas, HIV/AIDS. What specific conflict prone/affected areas can be situated within this context? eg, areas of influence of specific actors, frontlines around the location of natural resources, important infrastructure and lines of communication, pockets of socially marginalised or excluded populations. Is there a history of conflict? eg critical events, mediation efforts, external intervention. Note: this list is not exhaustive and the examples may differ according to the context