Sample Systemic Analysis of Community Conflicts in X Country

Systemic Analysis: Definition

• System: a complex physical or social structure that has different parts, all of which are interconnected in one way or another
• Analysis: in-depth investigation/ assessment or scrutiny of something
• Systemic Analysis:
• Investigation and in-depth scrutiny of the different parts of a systems to understand their connection, hence the impact of some parts on others.
• Systemic Analysis can be the investigation of a physical system (such as an environment, machine, location, etc.) or social systems such as work-places, communities, etc.
• CBOs and RLOs Systemic Analysis:
• Analysis of the complex dynamics (issues, infrastructure, stakeholders, etc.) of the identified community/ context where the CBO(community-based organization) or RLO (refugee-led organization) works.
• This process is undertaken to understand the complex dynamics of the identified community so that the CBO/ RLO can plan and implement their work from a point of knowledge (we will cover Strategic Planning in the module: Strategic Planning)

How to Do Systemic Analysis

• Brainstorming (pop-corn ideas):
• Term-Clarification:
• Drawing Connection:
• Indicating Cause à Effect:

1. Brainstorming (pop-corn ideas): the present stakeholders/ participants must all be given a chance to share idea(s) of a part/ issue of the system they have agreed to analyse (system identified during the community mapping done in the morning during the first session)

• For a small group, the facilitator can ask each participant to share his/ her idea (issues/ parts of the system) verbally. The Facilitator writes each idea on its own card and puts it (no particular order) on the pinboard, wall or floor
• For a medium and large-sized group:
• The facilitator requests each participant to write down his/ her idea (one idea per paper/ card) and then collects all those ideas. This individual-writing prevents a situation whereby some people’s participation may be influenced or downed by what others have already shared.
• The facilitator then collects all the papers/ cards and puts them (no particular order) on the pinboard, wall, or floor.

2. Term-Clarification: The facilitator takes the participants through each of the shared ideas (now on the pinboard, wall or floor) to make sure that all the participant have the same understanding of the term.

• In the event that the different participants have a different understanding of any term, clarification is made on what the term/ word means. In case of different ideas for the same word, additional words/ terms similar to the term being clarified (but having different meaning) can be created and put on the pinboard, wall, or floor. E.g. ‘money’ can be a vague term unless the participants clarify if they mean ‘excess money’, ‘limited money’, ‘legal’, ‘illegal, etc. Another common term whose clarity a group would need is ‘unemployment’; some people may understand it as never being employed, having employment then losing it, not working for the corporate even when someone still is employed else where or is self-employed, etc.

3. Drawing Connection: a direct line between is drawn between any two parts/ issues on the systemic map. Before a line is drawn, the participants must agree whether or not the two or more parts are connected in any way

4. Indicating Cause -> Effect: Once step 3 is done and a connection is drawn between two elements, it’s important for the participants/ stakeholders to show (with an arrow) which of the two elements leads to/ causes the other. It is possible to have both elements causing each others, in which case the arrows appear on both ends of the line.
5. Step Back: Once the participants are satisfied that they have made the connections they need between any two or more issues, they all take a step back and look at the map they have now created (it may look compact and complex but having gone through the process, they can all easily understand every aspect of it) to see the picture they have created. Two things: the map can confirm what they already knew or reveal things they were blind to or had not thought had as much or less weight to the entire context.

Use of Systemic Analysis

The created systemic map, representing the relevant context can be attached as part of text reports or used on its own to inform external actors, guide strategic mapping, and or reference in the future (especially when a new map is done) for comparison on the progress (or not) of the context and related interventions.

The Systemic map is also most helpful in helping the owners identify other aspects of the context such as the actors or duration of the specific issues identified in the map.

The post Organisational Development: Capacity-Development/ Strengthening for Organisations| Module 2: Context Assessment and Systemic Analysis appeared first on Development Work, Conflict Transformation, and PeaceBuilding... Informed Capacity Development for Diverse Stakeholders.

As a development worker, is Actors Mapping / Stakeholders Analysis important?

Do you ever wonder what would happen to you or your project if you jumped into implementing a project without seeking to understand who you will be working with or against, who you will be working for, or who will be affected by your interventions?

• Do you think the success of your project would be impacted?
• Do you think your personal safety/ welfare might be affected by your intervention?

What is Actors Mapping?

Actors Mapping is the process of identifying and seeking to understand the different actors / stakeholders in any setting / field/ scenario, as well as their relationships, and the possible impact they have on your peacebuilding/ development work or any other community process.

Understanding the actors in any setting should also give the development worker, project manager, peace and conflict consultant or program coordinators an insight into the people/ actors who might be affected positively or otherwise by the project.

Actors Mapping is, thus, a process that peacebuilders and facilitators of other community processes cannot afford to ignore.

Read how to conduct Actors Mapping / Stakeholders Mapping Here

How and Where To Do Actors Mapping

How, where, and how long the Actors Mapping is done by any development worker/ organization/ peace builder/ facilitator of community processes is up to their discretion.

The Actors Mapping Process can be carried out in a simple forum of the development workers only, or intensively in a forum that engages multiple actors/ stakeholders and uses Actors Mapping Tools to gather, process, and present information.

5 Reasons Why Actors Mapping is Important for any Intervention

1. Actors Mapping is part of the broader Context Assessment and Analysis in Development Work.

An introvert’s specialty, given his/ her ‘discomfort’ in a public arena, is to know WHO is present, WHAT their role is, HOW they impact his/ her presence, interaction, and outcome of whatever engagements the public forum aims at.

As development workers, project managers, peace and conflict consultants, program coordinators, peace workers, and facilitators of community processes, we should always wear an introvert’s glasses.

We need to use the lenses not for our own psych but for a better understanding of our actors, their involvement with our processes, and the possible foreseen or unforeseen impacts of each actor on our processes.

2. Actors Mapping is Part of Do No Harm and Conflict Sensitivity

Conflict sensitivity refers to the level of awareness of the intended input which could have intended/ unintended impacts on the project, the actors, the environment, etc. Do No Harm is a guiding principle in development work to minimize the unintended and adverse effects of development work.

Knowing the actors in a conflict or any scenario and acknowledging the power dynamics between them and yourself (or amongst themselves) is paramount to taking the appropriate course of actions in order to boost/ retain the dignity of every actor as well as reduce the chances of escalating the negative impacts that some engagements might cause.

3. Identify Potential Allies and Foes

In any form of development work it is most important to identify:

•  The actors who are for the same course as you (potential allies you can work together to achieve your peacebuilding goals).
• The actors who may view your work as threat to their well-being or livelihoods (these are the actors who might thwart your peacebuilding efforts directly on indirectly)

4. Identify External Actors/ Factors that have an Impact on your work

Peace work and development work are affected by more than the immediate actors or environmental factors.

An Actors Mapping exercise should help the development worker, peacebuilder, project manager, peace and conflict consultant or program managers visualize:

• Potential external actors (national government, international governments, treaties, funding agencies’ and their policies, etc.) whose minor or major changes might impact on the provision of goods/ services to the conflict-affected actors. Such changes may also affect (boost or curtail) the implementation of the peace/ development work
• Closely related external concepts that may affect the attitude or behaviour of some actors, hence affects the course of peace/ development work. This may include the political climate as well as natural occurrences/ disasters.

5. Look out for the welfare of the development worker

Let no one assume that you are everyone’s favourite just because you are working for peace or bringing development to a community.

It is important to understand privileges, stereotypes, and power dynamics.

You need to know what you are walking into or how your being (whatever nationality / ethnicity/ sex/ background/ race) may make you a target.

Kindly note that whereas you may not be able to alter your natural privileges like race, sex, ethnicity, etc. being aware of how these might be received by others (especially the actors in your field of work) should help you adjust your behaviour accordingly (only if it makes a difference).

Dangers of Skipping the Actors Mapping Process

1. Without a clear understanding of who the actors in a conflict context are or what their role in the (de)escalation of conflict is, peace workers / development workers, project managers and or peace and conflict consultants run the risk of under-estimating or over-estimating the power of some actors. Over or under-estimating some actors may not only inhibit the project from achieving its goal, but also fuel/ escalate the conflicts.

 Interventions could backfire if the peace worker/ development worker ignores or (dis-engages some actors who might be held in high esteem in their communities.

For instance, if a development worker ignores some actors, who the other actors identify with, the remaining actors may refuse to cooperate with the peacebuilder as they may assume that they may also be deemed dispensable at some point and, hence, ignored. The Swahili saying “ukiona mwenzako anyolewa, kitie chako maji” (in a tradition where mass head-shaving was common, the person next in-line would wet his/ her head as soon as the person before him/ her was getting his/ her shaving), holds true for all actors.

People expect the things that happen to the people they identify with to happen to them. Conflict actors judge the peacebuilder/ development worker by his/ her engagement with the other actors.

What are your thoughts on Actors Mapping?

The post 5 Reasons Why Development Work MUST Start with Actors/ Stakeholder Mapping appeared first on Development Work, Conflict Transformation, and PeaceBuilding... Informed Capacity Development for Diverse Stakeholders.