Our work on conflict sensitivity over the past year has consolidated our position as a sought-after partner on the subject. We completed 33 helpdesk tasks for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, providing tailored support to its programmes around the world – from water management in Mali to tackling the illicit drugs economy in Afghanistan. We expanded our helpdesk services to support the Austrian Development Agency and the European Investment Bank, helping them understand and adapt to the complicated regions they work in. We also delivered conflict-sensitivity training to staff at European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations; the European Investment Bank; the EU and Europe Aid; Save the Children Syria; and to authorities, civil society and communities across South Sudan. This work has not gone unnoticed: we were invited to feed into the World Bank’s strategy development process for their new fragility, violence and conflict strategy.

After the successful pilot of the Conflict Sensitivity Resource Facility (CSRF) in South Sudan, we secured five years of funding to scale-up the programme under the new title of ‘Better Aid in Conflict’. This unique resource gathers learning from a wide range of humanitarian, development and peacebuilding individuals and organisations in the country about their successful conflict-sensitive approaches. The CSRF is supported by the governments of the UK, Switzerland and Canada and by Dutch donor missions in South Sudan. It provides tailored support – in the form of training, mentoring, and research and analysis – to aid donors, NGOs, UN agencies, contractors and academics, to help them better understand and navigate the complex conflict dynamics in the country.

We have also developed new relationships with humanitarian and development organisations, including the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions. Our work with Save the Children Sweden is supporting them to incorporate and prioritise conflict sensitivity across their portfolio. To aid this, they have asked us to rethink how they and the wider aid sector can offer support to communities that are taking control of responses to the humanitarian crises that affect them.