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Conflict Sensitivity and Peacebuilding Programming

The guide outlines the steps to integrate the findings of conflict and peace analysis into programming to strengthen conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding approaches to WASH.

A woman fill utensils with water at the tap in her house premises at the Timbachundi village.

Purpose

The guide outlines the steps to integrate the findings of conflict and peace analysis into programming to strengthen conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding approaches to WASH. The guide identifies potential WASH contributions to building and sustaining peace, and accompanies readers through the decision-making process for conflict sensitive and peacebuilding programme design and/or adaptation. The guide is supported by six tools.

All WASH interventions in FCCs must be conflict sensitive, but not all conflict-sensitive programmes need to integrate a peacebuilding approach – understanding the difference and making the right choice is critical.

Resource box

What is the difference between conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding?

If conflict-sensitive programming is the selected approach: As part of a WASH team, you and your colleagues have decided to focus your initiative on building a borehole in an area shared by two competing communities that often resort to conflict over resources. Following hydrogeological assessment, the location of the borehole is defined, and the location of water points is agreed in consultation with representatives from both communities in mutually agreed locations. These planning steps ensured that the delivery of the WASH service is not perceived to favour a certain group and therefore did not exacerbate tensions, making the programming conflict sensitive.

If peacebuilding programming is the selected approach: In this same WASH initiative, you take a step further to not only facilitate discussions between the two communities on a mutually agreeable location for water points, but also assist them in developing collaborative arrangements for the two groups to jointly manage the borehole and build capacities to address the water-related impacts, dynamics and causes of conflict. This inclusive mechanism is further strengthened to become a community platform to open broader areas of collaboration and dialogue (e.g., shared garden and market, etc.). This results in reinforcing positive relationships among groups, thereby strengthening social cohesion at the community level, making it a peacebuilding programme.

The ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of conflict-sensitive WASH

Conflict sensitivity is relevant to both internal and external dimensions of the work of UNICEF WASH teams and partners in FCCs. Internal conflict sensitivity refers to programme support and requires attention, analysis and adjustments to UNICEF and WASH Teams’ internal policies, procedures and practices. These can refer to, for example, bias affecting choices about supply, recruitment, or contracting, and how this may affect the conflict sensitivity of an intervention. External conflict sensitivity refers to programme implementation and requires awareness, analysis and adjustments to the design and implementation of WASH activities, projects, programmes and partnerships.

These include equity and gender considerations, the choice of partners and participants, and how external communication and actions shapes others’ perceptions of the WASH intervention or programme in particular, and/or of UNICEF and its partners more broadly. Internal and external dimensions of conflict sensitivity are mutually reinforcing, and processes to strengthen organizational risk management also promote integration of conflict sensitivity into and across programmes.

Integrating conflict sensitivity throughout the WASH programming cycle and Case Study
Conflict-sensitive WASH programme planning and design and Case Study
Conflict-sensitive programme implementation – upholding ‘do no harm’ and Case Studies
'Conflict-sensitive WASH programme closure – exit and handover and Case Study

The ‘What’ and ‘How’ of peacebuilding WASH

UNICEF’s Peacebuilding Framework outlines the fundamental elements of UNICEF’s peacebuilding approach and supporting Theories of Change, while the sections below identify WASH-relevant entry points and considerations. Building on the foundation of conflict sensitivity, this section will discuss in detail the potential WASH contributions to building and sustaining peace across the four levels of UNICEF engagement and impacts: enabling environment for child rights-based and positive peace, vertical social cohesion (state-society relationships), horizontal social cohesion (community relationships), and individual contributions to peace. This section outlines the steps and decisions to be taken to develop and implement WASH peacebuilding programmes in line with UNICEF’s Results-Based Management (RBM) approach.

Defining peacebuilding as a primary or secondary objective for your WASH intervention

Developing peacebuilding WASH theories of change

Defining WASH contributions to peace – enabling environment, vertical social cohesion, horizontal social cohesion, and individual capacities for peace and Case Studies