Trust in the Leader of Collaborative Process Design and Facilitation
SKILL SK-19 | Conflict Understanding & Response
Conflict Sensitivity
The ongoing awareness of how project decisions, communications, and actions interact with existing social tensions - and the ability to adjust these to avoid inadvertently exacerbating conflict dynamics or harming vulnerable groups.
How to Develop It
1. Do No Harm review
Before any significant project activity, complete a brief Do No Harm review: who might be negatively affected? What existing tensions does this activity interact with? What can be adjusted to reduce harm? Document the review and the adjustments made.
2. Social tension mapping
With local partners, map existing social tensions in the project area: between groups, over resources, with authorities. Use this map to review planned activities for potential conflict interactions before scheduling them.
3. Conflict sensitivity debrief
After any activity in a tension-affected context, debrief: what conflict dynamics were present? How did the activity interact with them? What would we do differently? Use findings to update the social tension map.
Why This Skill Matters
Projects do not exist in social vacuums. Every activity and decision lands in a context already shaped by prior tensions and histories. Conflict sensitivity is what prevents projects from being inadvertent accelerants of existing conflict.
Observable Behaviors
+ Reviews project decisions through a conflict lens before implementation
+ Adjusts timing, format, and channel of activities based on conflict sensitivity assessment
+ Monitors the social environment continuously, not just at formal engagement events
+ Identifies conflict-sensitive groups and designs specific protections
+ Escalates when a project action risks exacerbating existing tensions
Self-Assessment
Read each Reflective Question below and honestly consider how consistently you demonstrate this in your actual fieldwork, not how you think you should behave, but how you do behave. Then assign a score from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest):
(1) Not yet developed: Rarely demonstrated in practice
(2) Emerging: Demonstrated sometimes, but inconsistently or only under favorable conditions
(3) Established: Demonstrated reliably in most situations, including moderately challenging ones
(4) Adaptive: Demonstrated reliably even in high-pressure situations, and practitioner actively helps
Common Gaps & Pitfalls
! Treating conflict sensitivity as relevant only when a conflict is already active and visible
! Applying conflict sensitivity to community dynamics but not to institutional relationships
! Identifying conflict sensitivity issues but not escalating them to decision-makers
Connections
Related Skills
SK-18: Conflict Analysis
SK-01: Landscape Awareness
SK-24: Trauma-Informed Engagement
Reflective Questions Score from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest):
I review significant project activities through a conflict sensitivity lens before implementation
I can map existing social tensions in the project area and identify how activities interact with them
I adjust project activities based on conflict sensitivity findings
I escalate when a project action risks exacerbating existing tensions
Th shared to the public for free courtesy of the
THE CONFLICT RESOLUTION GROUP FOUNDATION
www.coregroup.org.ph * info@coregroup.org.ph
in partnership with SustainABILITIES Lab
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