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Conflict sensitivity requires time and commitment
This is an issue of time. These are issues of our time.
03 August 2021
David Shearer, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan (SRSG) and Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), meets with Nyarien Ochiek Yot and her five children I UN PhotoIn its BMZ 2030 reform strategy, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has defined “conflict sensitivity” as a key quality standard for development cooperation. But what exactly does that mean? The Civil Peace Service (CPS) has been applying conflict-sensitive planning and implementation methods for the past 20 years. Mona Ahmed of the CPS explains what this looks like in theory and practice.
Crises and conflicts are on the rise everywhere in the world, bringing with them the need to act: the climate crisis, the increasingly obvious finiteness of the natural resources, governments determined to restrict the space available to civil society, as well as population growth. Challenges that were looked at separately in the past can no longer be seen in isolation. Each of these challenges has enormous potential for conflict; when combined, they lead into crisis. The BMZ has stressed that, in line with the 2030 agenda, development cooperation as a cross-cutting task of German policy has a key role to play. It is drawing up its BMZ 2030 Reform Strategy in response, where conflict sensitivity is to be given central relevance.
Theoretical understanding. Combining due diligence and change
Well-founded, tried and tested, concepts of conflict sensitivity point to the need to address two apparent paradoxes. One is the dilemma between long-term prospects and the pressure to act immediately. The other is the indispensable need for intensive and careful analysis of the respective context while triggering transformations contributing to peacebuilding. Reconciling these presumed contradictions requires realistic self-assessment and an attitude that regards both successes and setbacks as learning opportunities for local and German partner organizations as well as donors. Common and accepted tools such as Do No Harm, Peace and Conflict Impact Analysis (PCIA), and Reflecting on Peace Practice (RPP) provide valuable points of reference. In addition, conflict sensitivity requires holistic approach considering the respective context, actors, dynamics, factors and demands based on varied local expertise. Moreover, practitioners need to be able to realize any unintended effects of their own activities and respond to them flexibly and in a targeted manner.
Practical experience. Taking time, integrating actors, building confidence
For more than 20 years, the Civil Peace Service (CPS) has been applying conflict-sensitive planning and implementation methods on the ground, updating them regularly through cross-organizational reflective loops. Here, the integration of local actors in all phases is key – from identifying conflict dynamics and peace potentials to agreeing on processes, defining the objectives of interventions, and arranging for continuous monitoring. The latter implies regular (self-) critical examination of any specific causal assumptions that have been made. The required resources in terms of time and personnel are budgeted for and made available accordingly. The logic of a project is based on process rather than linear development; cooperation is planned and implemented long-term and together with the target groups. In this process, any activities with the potential to have a negative and aggravating impact on the conflict are explicitly highlighted and considered. This is linked to approaches designed to pre-empt negative effects. Two central aspects have turned out to be key in practical conflict-sensitive work: time resources and accepting responsibility.
Considering timeline(s)
This includes:
(1) Investing time into processes, partners, and target groups as well as into an in-depth understanding of conflict dynamics. This should include the different perspectives of, and actors in, the conflict and regard for the (divisive and unifying) effects of the project in question;
(2) Intensive consideration of (conflict) dynamics, enabling a realistic, conflict-sensitive assessment of the right time for activities and interventions;
(3) Decoupling operational planning from potential time pressure that may result e.g. from project cycles or the logic of funding applications and which may run counter to conflict dynamics and transformation processes;
(4) Awareness that processes of social change need patience. This requires comprehensive expectation management with implementation partners, donors and, not least, each and every one of us.
Accepting responsibility
Anyone intervening in a conflict automatically becomes part of the conflict system. As German actors, enjoying the privileges of the Global North and equipped with money, we need to be aware of the associated power asymmetries when dealing with our local counterparts. As a result, we have to accept greater responsibility for what we do and the intended and unintended effects of our work. Apart from careful planning, comprehensive analyses and risk assessment, inclusive approaches and the flexible work practices described above, this calls, above all, for (self-) critical reflection and exchange based on trust. At its core should be the objectives, processes and design of the cooperation with all actors in our regional and professional environment. Accepting responsibility also means to build confidence, drawing on existing know-how and entering into a dialogue for that purpose: with implementation partners, target groups, experts and people who are affected, experienced or simply curious. Last but not least, it means to accept responsibility for our misinterpretations and mistakes and to communicate our motives clearly. It also requires to work out action plans together with our partner organizations in order to cushion any potential negative impacts of exit strategies.