3 Conflict Sensitivity Tools: Ultimate Formula for Visualizing Un(Intended) Impacts of Peace Projects/ Community Processes

Force Field Analysis (FFA) Tool

Conflict Sensitivity Tools

Conflict Sensitivity Tools help development workers capture and process intended/ unintended impacts of projects beforehand; allows conflict-sensitive planning.

Conflict Sensitivity refers the conscious efforts that are geared towards capturing, analysing, and processing the intended and unintended impacts of any intervention in development work. Conflict sensitivity Tools help capture and process this information.

As part of the wider Conflict Analysis, Conflict Sensitivity seeks to capture and visualize the unintended negative impacts that a project/ intervention may have in a bid to plan (re-plan) peacebuilding projects in a way that maximizes the positive impacts and reduces the negative impact of the intervention. There are several Conflict Analysis Tools that can be used to conduct the Conflict Sensitivity of a project or proposed intervention.

Common Conflict Sensitivity Tools and How to Use Them

  • DNH – Do No Harm
  • FFA – Force Field Analysis
  • RPP Matrix – Reflecting on Peace Processes

1. Do No Harm: The Process

This Conflict Sensitivity Tool works in steps:

Do No Harm (DNH) Tool
Do No Harm (DNH) Tool
  1. Conduct a thorough Conflict Analysis
  2. Identify dividers
  3. Identify the driving forces (Local Capacities for Peace – LCP)
  4. Define your project with 5W H)
  5. Resource Transfer (RT). Works on the ways of boosting LCP and reducing dividers
  6. Defines programming options that incorporate the Resource Transfer activities identified in step 5

2. Force Field Analysis (FFA): The Process

Force Field Analysis (FFA) Tool
Force Field Analysis (FFA) Tool
  1. Identify the attitudes, behaviours, systems & Structures, and the actors that fuel the conflict
  2. Identify the attitudes, behaviours, systems & Structures, and the actors that reduce the conflict
  3. Incorporate your findings when planning peace projects

3. RPP (Reflecting on Peace Processes) Matrix This tools allows you

RPP Matrix
RPP – Reflecting on Peace Projects SOURCE: CPS DOCS

This tool allows you to:

  1. Indicate the current status quo (conflict, development, etc.) you wish to work on
  2. Your desired goals
  3. The actors (and their capacities you wish to work with)

Which Conflict Sensitivity Tools have you worked with? What was your experience with them?

Kindly leave your feedback in the comments’ section below.

About Maggie

* I am a certified Peace and Conflict Consultant (Akademie fur konflikttransformation - Forum ZFD/ Germany) * Project Advisor at Civil Peace Service/ GIZ Kenya

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