International Conflict Sensitivity (CS)

The International Conflict Sensitivity Programme supports organisations with a humanitarian, development or environmental mission to strengthen how they operate in conflict-affected contexts and how they can contribute to social cohesion and peacebuilding.

We focus on two types of actors: 

Humanitarian and Development organisations:

Humanitarian crises are on the rise. In conflict areas where state structures are fragile 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: ZOA Best Practice Paper on Conflict Sensitivity  

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. While the connection between environment, climate, conflict and peace are 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: EP Call concept and guidelines and the learning paper of our former partner Conservation International: Conflict sensitivity and environmental peacebuilding CI lessons learned

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 have enabled our partners to develop strategies that better address conflict risks and leverage opportunities to contribute to social cohesion, equip their staff to understand and adapt to context changes, and build up inclusive stakeholder engagement supporting the quality and impact of their work.