Some definitions

Conflict sensitivity

This means an awareness of the causes of historical, actual or potential conflict, and of the likelihood of further conflict and its likely severity; and the capacity to work with all parties to reduce conflict and / or minimise the risk of further conflict. It involves:

• understanding the operational context
• understanding the interaction between an intervention and that context;
• the capacity to act upon this understanding to avoid negative impacts and maximize positive ones.

Note: the word ‘context’ is used rather than ‘conflict’ to make the point that all socio-economic and political tensions, root causes and structural factors are relevant to conflict sensitivity because they all have the potential to become violent. ‘Conflict’ is sometimes erroneously confused with macro-political violence between two warring parties (as with a civil war between a national government and a non-state actor).

Interventions

Interventions can be at a variety of levels: project, programme, sectoral (sector wide) and macro. Sectoral (sector wide) and macro levels will be discussed in Chapter 4. The primary aim of this chapter (modules 1 to 3) is to integrate conflict sensitivity in projects and programmes throughout the project/programme cycle. See also Chapter 1, Box 1.

Programme

A programme is a proposed plan with a medium to long-term horizon and possibly without a defined end, often incorporating strategic objectives, multiple projects and activities¹.

Project

A project is a set of time-bound activities typically contributing to a larger programmatic objective, which are planned, implemented, monitored and evaluated in relation to the issue or issues that they seek to address.²

Conflict analysis

Conflict analysis (explained in detail in Chapter 2) is central to integrating conflict sensitivity into projects and programmes. The approach is summarised in Table 1.

The project cycle

This comprises the following key stages:

• planning: the process whereby problems are identified, their causal linkages analysed, and effective solutions developed. The result of this process may be embodied in a project or programme with predefined objectives, activities, implementation plans and indicators of progress
• implementation: the process of realising objectives by enacting the activities designed in the planning process; it is the operationalisation of the proposal. Implementation involves regular progress reviews with adjustment of activities if necessary
• monitoring: the continuous process of examining the delivery of activity outputs to intended beneficiaries. It is carried out during the implementation of the activity, with the intention of immediately correcting any deviation from operational objectives. As such, monitoring reports generate data that can be used in evaluation
• evaluation : an assessment that takes place at a specific point in time – typically at the end of a project – in which objective procedures are used in a systematic way to judge the effectiveness of an ongoing or completed activity (eg project, programme, policy) its design, implementation and overall results. The evaluation concentrates on the relevance and fulfilment of defined objectives, developmental efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability compared to a set of explicit or implicit standards.

These stages of the project cycle are represented in the diagram below, and situated within the conflict analysis (see Chapter 2 for a more detailed explanation of the diagram).

This chapter is organised according to these key stages in the project / programming cycle. The chapter explains both the key steps that must be taken to integrate conflict sensitivity into each project/programme stage (“what”) and the process of implementing such steps (“how”).