Introduction

Development, humanitarian assistance, and peacebuilding activities interact with the context they are taking place in. In conflict-affected settings, development activities directly impact on the conflict itself. Our interventions may aggravate the conflict and do harm, or they could contribute in a positive way to maximising development effectiveness and peacebuilding impact. Since the early 1990s, development actors have developed a variety of approaches, methods and tools to enhance understanding of a conflict-affected context, and the impact development and humanitarian assistance has on the context. Some of the groundbreaking and most significant efforts have been application of the 'Do No Harm' (DNH) approach, which is now considered an essential tool to ensure conflict sensitivity in development and humanitarian activities.

The United Nations Country Team in Nepal recognises that its support for development, humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding must be designed and implemented in a conflict-sensitive manner, especially given the country’s recent emergence from violent civil conflict and its rapidly changing social, economic and political dynamics. Put simply, conflict-insensitive development may inadvertently do harm through causing or exacerbating tension, contributing to corruption and reinforcing societal exclusion and inequalities. It may also increase the risk faced by development agencies and damage an organisation’s reputation.

The UN in Nepal is therefore adopting a coherent and coordinated approach to ensure that development efforts are based closely on a strong understanding of the context, are adaptable to programming changes as a result of changing circumstances on the ground, and have monitoring mechanisms to ensure its relevance, effectiveness and accountability. Conflict sensitivity has also been identified by development partners in Nepal (multilateral agencies, bilateral donors, civil society and the Government of Nepal) as an imperative condition for development, as articulated through the Nepal Peace and Development Strategy 2010-2015.

In the spirit of ‘delivering as one’, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator’s Office in Nepal (RCHCO) have teamed up to implement Phase One of a UN Interagency Programme on Mainstreaming Conflict Sensitivity, with the view of expansion beyond an initial phase. Conflict sensitivity is being embedded through increased staff capacity, technical accompaniment at the field level and transformations in organisational systems and processes. An initial pool of expert practitioners and trainers has already been created within UNDP, UNICEF and RCHCO with Nepali-based modules developed. The experiences and lessons learned during the initial mainstreaming process will be collated and used as basis for further expansion and wider institutional learning in the UN system and beyond.

The conflict sensitivity initiative has adopted an interagency approach from inception, reflecting the manner in which the UN aspires to deliver its development assistance as part of the broader UN reform agenda. The initiative is hosted under UNDP’s Conflict Prevention Programme, with its strategic direction guided by an the Interagency Senior Advisory Committee as managers of this initiative, supported by an Interagency Technical Support Team comprising of full-time advisors working with focal points from each participating agency.