Conflict Sensitivity in Development, Humanitarian & Peacebuilding Practice

Trends and Challenges

Susanne Schmeidl, Anthony Ware, Claudio Alberti

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040335970
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Global Development Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Inspired by Mary Anderson's influential work Do No Harm (1999), this book encourages critical reflection on the development and contemporary relevance of conflict sensitivity approaches in international development, humanitarian action and peacebuilding.
Despite the widespread acceptance of conflict sensitivity, particularly in the context of worsening crises, there has been a surprising lack of critical discussion and evaluation of the framework and its application. This book fills this gap by bringing together a diverse collection of articles, practice notes and reflections from academics and practitioners in the field of conflict sensitivity. It provides a comprehensive platform for valuable debate, highlighting strengths, areas for improvement and practical guidance for real- world application, based on 25 years of conflict sensitivity/ do no harm practice and innovation. By integrating insights from practitioners, the book aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Advocating the systematic integration of conflict sensitivity into humanitarian, development and peacebuilding efforts, the book offers practical guidance for implementation and adaptation in different contexts and programmes.
As a valuable resource, it deepens understanding and promotes accountability to the populations that humanitarian, development and peacebuilding actors seek to support, including actors advancing conflict sensitivity in their own contexts. It serves as a springboard for further academic research on conflict sensitivity. This book was originally published as a special issue of Development in Practice.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction – conflict sensitivity/Do No Harm (DNH) in development, humanitarian, and peacebuilding practice: reflections and emerging trends
• 1 Looking back to look forward
• 2 Necessary complexity in the Anthropocene: new approaches in socio-ecological systems thinking, Do No Harm, and fragility integration
• 3 Conflict sensitivity/Do No Harm (DNH) through an everyday peace lens: analysing a Rohingya–Rakhine program in Myanmar
• 4 Humanitarian cash assistance: risks and opportunities for local peace
• 5 Depoliticised humanitarianism: critiquing the effectiveness of international aid for the Bedouin communities in the Jerusalem periphery
• 6 Peace responsiveness: a paradigm shift to deliver on conflict sensitivity and sustaining peace
• 7 A conflict-sensitivity dilemma: how conflict denialism constrains spaces for conflict-sensitive actions for peacebuilding
• 8 Far beyond a tool: Do No Harm as spiritual (trans)formation for interfaith cooperation and action
• 9 The reform of freetown port: lessons from Political Economy Analysis (PEA) to make conflict sensitivity more efficient
• 10 Conflict sensitivity and activism: insights from Cambodia’s resource conflicts
• 11 Beyond box-ticking: how conflict sensitivity can help bring about a more equitable aid system
• 12 Building a culture of conflict sensitivity within a consortium
• 13 The localisation discourse in post-2021 Myanmar: implications for conflict sensitivity
• 14 Conflict-sensitive research: bringing research ethics into practice
• Index