Conflict sensitive approaches to development, humanitarian assistance and peace building

3 The importance of connectivity

Step 2: How , if at all, do the different elements of the organisation’s capacity (A – E in Table 2) connect?

Some aspects of conflict-sensitive capacity may be well developed in (eg institutional commitment) and others (eg organisational culture) less well developed. It is important to understand how these different aspects connect. The experience of organisations seeking to become conflict sensitive shows that a number of them have made good progress in developing certain aspects that help to enhance conflict-sensitive practice, for example:

linking better practice in conflict areas directly to their agency mandate (why)
development and usage of operational guidance for working in conflict areas – such as tools for conflict analysis (what)
training in conflict and peace related skills (how)
appointment of specialist skilled staff (who),

but they have generally been less successful in ensuring that progress is even across different aspects so that they connect and add up to more than the sum of their parts.

Box 2: Examples of bad, and good, connections
In agency A, progress was made in terms of the organisation’s commitment to address conflict as part of its overarching mandate of poverty alleviation. Some specialist staff were recruited, and a tool for conflict analysis was developed. But the specialists were allowed to focus more on developing explicit conflict resolution programmes than promoting and enabling conflict sensitivity across the rest of the organisation, and the tool was developed in isolation from the end users, with no comprehensive training programme on how to use it nor any clarity about how it fitted with existing planning procedures. Moreover the initiative was announced and rolled out from the top with insufficient consultation and participation across the organisation – staff lacked ownership and were reluctant to use it. In agency B, a ‘reflecting on practice’ initiative involving all staff across the organisation (both at headquarters and in the field) identified that, although theirs was not a peacebuilding organisation, improving practice in conflict areas was a priority. Reflecting on the agency’s mandate for poverty alleviation, and following a review of prior and existing programmes in conflict-affected areas, a new policy for working in conflict areas was designed drawing on the experience of the agency, partners and other organisations. After consultation, a plan of action to promote better practice was written. This plan identified the most pressing needs as learning, operational guidance for planning and evaluation processes, some skills development, and new strategic partnerships. Key aspects of conflict analysis were factored into existing planning and evaluation guidelines. Country directors were introduced to these updated plans and guidelines directly and a wider awareness raising campaign was conducted, as well as making training in these one of the focal areas of the general agency training and induction programmes. An electronic forum was created where people from different regions and in different parts of the agency could share their different good and bad experiences with the new approach and provide support to each other in applying it to their respective areas of work.

The first example in Box 2 shows that even where an agency has several of the key components needed for conflict sensitivity, this will not contribute to mainstreaming unless they are planned and implemented in a joined-up way. A possible way of remedying the disconnect in agency A would be to initiate a comprehensive cross-organisational consultation process (also involving relevant external partners) in the light of which both the conflict analysis tool and policy framework could be reviewed. These steps could contribute to building a sense of ownership, and increase the likelihood of the policy and the tool becoming an active part of the organisation’s practice.

Next: 4 Reflecting on experience