Key steps at this stage include:

• the development and appraisal of sector strategies, work plans and budgetary provision. These are usually developed by national governments and involve consultation with stakeholders, before being considered by donors for support (donors may assist in the process of strategy development)
• the development of indicators or benchmarks against which the impact of the intervention will be monitored and evaluated.

Conflict-sensitive strategic assessments undertaken at the national level will have helped identify priority areas for addressing conflict issues within and across sectors, but in order to integrate conflict sensitivity into the assessment and planning of a sectoral approach it will be important to consider complementing the macro conflict analysis with a sector specific conflict analysis of the linkages between the specific sector (eg health, education, agriculture) and the context. In particular the sector specific analysis will address the different levels of conflict, particularly local level dynamics that will impact on sector activities, and the relationship between those various levels (local, sector, national). (See Box 5.)

• how do the sector strategy and budgetary allocation relate to the understanding of the context and key priorities identified through the conflict analysis? Do/can they include strategies to address conflict related issues?

• what adjustments are needed to address possible negative impacts and possible opportunities (see Table 1)? What actions are required within other sectors?

Relating the sector strategy to the conflict analysis can be done using the analysis framework provided by the conflict triangle outlined in Chapter 2. Table 3 provides examples of questions that need to be asked to determine how the sector strategy can address the issues raised in the analysis (the actual questions will differ according to the specific context).

Having ascertained the extent to which the strategy and budgetary allocation aim to target conflict issues, a number of actions / strategies can be developed to address outstanding issues. Examples will vary according to the context, but include:

• developing specific strategies for delivering support to sectors in conflict-affected or potentially conflict-affected regions
• considering budget plans that address issues such as equity of resource allocation between regions, and inter-group disparities
• developing governance reform programmes related to the sector (eg to increase participation of certain groups)
• supporting existing or additional local level peace-building or conflict prevention projects related to the sector (eg local peace education projects)
• integrating an anti-corruption strategy into the sector strategy
• ensuring consistency and coordination between the strategy and other areas of intervention and ongoing local processes eg humanitarian assistance, local peacebuilding activities, local NGO assistance
• ensuring that the sector strategy addresses the needs of particularly disadvantaged / marginalised groups
• balancing approaches that address short-term needs and long-term structural issues.

The development of actions and strategies will involve considering the linkages between sectors, as actions will most likely be required in other sectors to ensure the conflict sensitivity of the strategy. For example, actions in the transport sector, such as the building of a new transport corridor, might increase opportunities for arms or drugs trafficking and would therefore need to be linked to actions within the security sector to enhance security for the region. Furthermore, making a difference in one sector, such as transport and housing, without improvements in the provision of other basic services, can fuel new grievances.

The process will also require consideration of strategies for addressing conflict issues in key crosscutting areas, such as governance. For example, governance problems may be at the root of tensions between groups over unequal access to resources; or corruption (eg in the police) may fuel a variety of grievances and undermine state credibility.

Indicators and benchmarks need to be developed alongside the sector strategy, to gauge the success or impact of the implementation of the strategy and the intervention, and to help determine what adjustments, if any, need to be made to secure the planned outputs. Conflict sensitivity requires indicators which gauge the interaction between the intervention and the context and vice versa (see Chapter 2 section 3 for more information).

Indicators will necessarily vary according to the intervention in question and the context. Box 6 provides some examples related to the education sector.