Conflict Sensitivity and Risk Management
Capital, resources and opportunities can unintentionally aggravate tensions in fragile communities. A systematic understanding of grievances, power structures and security arrangements helps organisations reduce harm and operate safely.
Operating within fragile contexts risks inadvertently contributing to or creating social tensions amongst communities through the injection of capital, resources, assets and opportunities. Without an in-depth understanding of pre-existing local dynamics, international actors may aggravate historical grievances, embolden specific stakeholders or compromise staff safety. However, the primary challenge is not only to acknowledge conflict-sensitive approaches, but to systematise these frameworks within rapidly shifting and complex environments. For example, misinterpreting tribal alignments, patronage networks or security arrangements can foster mistrust, undermine interventions and destabilise communities.
How we help clients
Conflict sensitivity forms one of the fundamental foundations of MECS’s risk management strategy. Utilising our extensive field networks and technical expertise, we ensure that our clients’ interventions reduce community tensions and promote social cohesion. Our customised approach consists of a sequence of inter-related processes, including understanding root/proximate causes, explaining societal connectors/dividers, mapping influential stakeholders, locating conflict trends and uncertainties as well as plotting scenarios and developing mitigation measures. By delivering localised insights, we produce strategic and actionable advice that enables our clients to operate safely and effectively in the world’s most complex environments.
Selected case studies
Explore selected MECS case studies spanning research, monitoring and advisory work across complex operating contexts.
Discuss your requirements with MECS
Whether you need field-based evidence, independent verification or specialist advice, MECS can shape a service around your operating context and decision needs.