Why we work on Conflict Sensitivity

Growing inequality, political violence, environmental degradation and  climate change present serious challenges to an increasing number of countries. These are particularly acute in fragile contexts. Involving a range of actors to address these challenges is critical; governments, local civil society and international organisations all have roles to play. 

Many organisations recognise the need to better understand the connection between their work and conflict. How to act upon this remains a challenge. Applying conflict sensitivity in practice requires internal investment at both the organisational and operational levels. Often, there is no dedicated funding or accompaniment for such work. This is where we focus our support at PeaceNexus.  

How we work with Conflict Sensitivity

We support local civil society, governmental institutions and international organisations with a high impact in fragile and conflict-affected contexts to improve their practices, so their actions do not fuel violence and contribute to peaceful change where possible. 

We help partners to: 

  • Understand why and how to undertake conflict analysis, and how to use it to shape policies and programmes 
  • Anticipate and manage conflict risks 
  • Secure leadership commitment to driving new practice, including more flexible operations and stronger monitoring and learning to adapt to context changes 
  • Build staff and partner’s capacity to understand and work on conflict 
  • Review partnership approaches and improve ways to work with other actors operating in the same context 
  • Review strategies to initiate or increase work directly focused on building peace 

What makes our Conflict Sensitivity support distinct: 

  • We use an organisational change approach that aims to build internal capacities over the long-term. We help our partners to set priorities and align resources behind them, through a process that involves different parts of their institution. 
  • We enable our partners to recruit the most appropriate expertise, and stay involved to accompany the process over time. 
  • We recognise the dilemmas inherent to working in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. We believe that conflict sensitivity is about making informed choices to act responsibly and achieve impact in such contexts. 

Conflict Sensitivity International Partnerships 

We focus on two types of actors 

Humanitarian and Development organisations

Humanitarian crises are on the rise. In conflict areas where state structures are weak or oppressive and marked by record numbers of forced displacement, aid actors deliver critical support to save lives, ensure access to basic services such as water and sanitation, food and shelter, and support longer-term development. As our humanitarian and development partners face shrinking space and mounting risks, we help them develop systems to  better address conflict risks, scale up their investment in peacebuilding and support local actors as lead change agents in conflict contexts. For more information on our support see our joint learning paper with our former partner ZOA.

Environmental organisations 

Climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution fuel conflict and in turn, violent conflict reduces the capacity to act on climate change and cope with environmental degradation. Being able to maintain and even scale up environmental and climate programmes in conflict-affected contexts is more important than ever. Biodiversity, climate vulnerability, and fragility hotspots increasingly overlap, and while societies at the frontline of fragility are bearing the brunt of the climate emergency, they are still the ones least able to access green and climate finance. While the connection between the environment, peace, and conflict is increasingly recognised, building capacities for conflict sensitivity is a new approach for most actors and funders in the environmental sector.  

We support environmental actors to develop new policies and practices to address conflict risks in their operations and to pioneer peacebuilding approaches as part of their biodiversity and climate work. For more information on our approach, see our recent call for proposals for environmental actors.

Results of our Conflict Sensitivity support

Over the past decade, we have worked with a variety of partners at different levels. They value our pragmatic approach which is tailored to their needs. Our partnerships result in strategies that address conflict risk, staff that are better equipped to use conflict analysis, programmes that better adapt to changing conflict dynamics, and increased funding for peacebuilding. 

We also provide conflict sensitivity support to private sector actors. You can find more information on this in our Business Engagement section. 

Learn more about our Conflict Sensitivity support

We run a Call for Proposals, through which civil society organisations, from our focus regions and international, can apply. Governmental, multilateral or business actors interested in learning more about our Conflict Sensitivity support may contact Héloïse Heyer.

Highlights

Find out more about our Conflict Sensitivity partnerships