Certain organisations support their work by adopting guidelines, policy frameworks, and agreements developed by other organisations. Some of these are listed in Table 6, below. Many of these guidelines can be used by agencies and interested parties to further the building of institutional capacity – either within their own organisation, or in terms of advocating to others. However, staff in some organisations may be unaware of these materials, or may not understand how they can be used as a reminder of the relevance and importance of conflict sensitivity, or as a lever to obtain, for example, extra resources.

Examples:

1. A country director for a donor agency is putting in a proposal to headquarters for finance for an extra member of staff (a part-time national conflict adviser). He notes how this will significantly enhance the agency’s capacity to deliver on its commitments as outlined in the OECD-DAC guidelines ‘Helping Prevent Violent Conflict: Orientation for External Partners’.

2. A national civil society organisation uses national governments’, and also EU donors’, commitment to the Cotonou Agreement (Article 11) to advocate against a government-sponsored and EU-funded infrastructural project that is likely to cause conflict and unrest amongst a minority group.

3. An Emergency Unit deputy director for a humanitarian organisation uses a point in the revised Sphere Guidelines to strengthen her request for resources for conflict analysis training for all her staff: “Understanding the nature and source of conflict helps to ensure that aid is distributed in an impartial way and reduces or avoids negative impact. In conflict-affected settings, an analysis of the actors, mechanisms, issues and context of the conflict should be carried out prior to programme planning.^”4