• Systematically studies the context in which an intervention project takes place and looks at the interaction between the context and the project

• Helps people, community-based organizations, school districts, municipalities, and businesses gain a better understanding of the context in which they work and their role in that context

• Provides an understanding of the underlying causes of conflict

• Incorporates conflict sensitivity into a project’s design, from the planning stage to the implementation stage and up to the evaluation and monitoring stages

Businesses that invest in community development projects, community-based programs that manage the spread of HIV/AIDS and suburban schools that are located in neighborhoods experiencing major demographic changes understand investment, epidemiology, and pedagogy.  Frequently, when a project is developed, like the construction of new housing in a high poverty neighborhood or schools dealing with gangs, people tend to become frustrated not so much with the goals of the project, but more so with how the project interacts with the context in which it is embedded.  The interaction between context and program are oftentimes misunderstood and not thoroughly examined before a project is started.

A Conflict Analysis Framework

• Reveals the history of the place and of the current conflict
• Identifies the people engaged in the conflict and the people who are affected by the conflict
• Ascertains potential and existing conflict sources, issues, and triggers as well as factors contributing to peace
• Describes the dynamics between the history, the people, and the sources of conflict
• Develops indicators that monitor and measure changes over time and the interactions between the intervention and the context
• Offers information and reports in user-friendly formats using scenarios, time-lines, and mappings