Conflict management

Fighting poverty calls for a different distribution of resources. ActionAid Denmark supports constructive ways of handling the discord that springs from development. Conflicts should lead to positive change for the poor and marginalised, rather than end in violence and destruction.

When conflicts break out into open violence
Around New Year 2008, Kenya experienced a shocking wave of fierce unrest. In the beginning, the conflict was presented as if it were driven by ethnic hatred. Gradually it became clear that it was largely a reaction to those in power trying to steal the vote after the elections. The conflict was a response to the fact that the political elite would not solve the country’s fundamental problems of poverty and lack of democracy, i.e. the constitution concentrating power in a few hands, the unfair distribution of land and the fact that corruption creates a flow of money from the poor to the rich. The attempt to steal the election became the straw that broke the camel’s back, leading to rioting with politically manipulated ethnic undertones.

In such a situation, a concrete intervention is required to manage the conflict, fostering dialogue and reconciliation. However, it is also necessary to grasp the host of underlying problems fuelling the violence.

All development entails conflict
Conflict management is not just about healing the wounds after violent hostilities. It is indeed an integral part of all development work. Fighting poverty calls for an alternative distribution of resources and shifting power relations in favour of the poor. Development involves social change, and social change entails conflict. Consequently, all development is linked to some level of conflict.

When MS supports political empowerment of poor people, better access to land, trade justice, measures against corruption and gender discrimination, opposing interests are bound to clash. These intervention areas address the fundamental structural causes of poverty and marginalisation. In many poor countries, tiny elites hang on to power and have no interest in democracy or development.

Consequently, MS’s partner organisations are inevitably drawn into conflict-ridden processes, as they oppose marginalisation of the poor, corruption, unfair land distribution and gender inequality. This is what makes the management of conflict part and parcel of development processes.

Conflict management is an integral part of all our support for development. In addition, we specifically focus on this issue in three countries, all of which have experienced outright political violence, namely Kenya, Zimbabwe and Nepal.

In conflict management we address two types of political violence: direct political violence and structural political violence.

Direct political violence consists of politically motivated physical attacks against groups and individuals, for instance during elections. We support endeavours to stop the use of political violence as a means of exerting pressure, and to sway the conflicting parties toward peace and reconciliation initiatives. We also assist organisations in monitoring and documenting abuses. Further, we back efforts to foster dialogue and reconciliation after the violence has occurred.

Structural political violence is exercised through structures in society that marginalise people from influence, and keep them in poverty. MS supports development that changes such structures and we strive to manage, as constructively as possible, the conflicts that are bound to follow.

Conflicts vary widely in nature, ranging from peaceful disagreement to open and destructive violence. Conflict management is particularly about preventing opposing interests from evolving into destructive clashes, and to ensure that conflicts remain constructive.

One aspect of conflict management is the systematic use of so-called "Do No Harm" methodology aimed at mapping what divides and unites people and consciously working with methods that unite rather than divide.

Support for organisations and initiatives
In the efforts to manage conflicts, we support organisations that monitor and document political violence and violations of human rights, for example, by means of civil society actors developing and implementing early-warning systems that record political violence at the local level.

We support peace and reconciliation initiatives, both in relation to politically motivated conflicts and to more local disputes over, for example, access to resources.

Alongside the local authorities, we support civil society’s own dialogue-creating activities to facilitate neutral meeting places for parties to the conflict.