Erica Gaston’s Post

Working within the complex realities of conflict requires a deep understanding of the context you are operating in. This makes Conflict Analysis a crucial component in the work of humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding practitioners alike.   It offers a road map and first insight into the dynamics of conflict and peace on the ground.    Wanting to navigate this network of power structures, historical grievances and underlying root causes without this roadmap would be like blindly walking through a maze.    So, to make sure you do not get lost or unintendedly do more harm than good, Conflict Analysis is the cornerstone of effective engagement with a conflict context and peacebuilding. It enables us to:    ➡ Map root causes of conflict  ➡ Develop inclusive and strategic interventions  ➡ Identify potential pathways towards peace    Join our course on Conflict Analysis for Sustaining Peace to gain the skills and techniques for conducting an inclusive conflict analysis: 🔗https://lnkd.in/demqS9bQ    #Peacebuilding #ConflictPrevention #UNSSC #SustainableDevelopment #ProfessionalDevelopment 

The Conflict Research Society (CRS) invites submissions for its 2025 Annual Conference on 17-19 September, focusing on "Legitimacy in Conflict and Peace." The event examines how legitimacy is constructed, contested, and transformed in conflict and peacebuilding. Scholars, practitioners, and policymakers are encouraged to submit papers on legitimacy's impact on conflict dynamics, peace processes, and post-conflict recovery. Submissions are due by 17 January 2025. Find more at https://buff.ly/4ge10uT

What is the Human Rights Due Diligence Policy (HRDDP), why is it important, and how has it been applied in PBF-supported programming? More in this brief, https://lnkd.in/gMEgzqwe, drawing from: ▶ 📘 2024 PBF Thematic Review: Synergies between Human Rights and Peacebuilding in PBF-supported Programming: https://lnkd.in/gN_9MtWu ▶ 📙 The DRC Case Study: https://lnkd.in/grtJ_-jd

A couple takeaways from the conflict literature for policy makers (and one for researchers): 🤝 Peace agreement design matters. Using data spanning from 1946 to 2010 on the duration of intrastate peace episodes, Badran found that well-designed peace agreements significantly enhance the longevity of peace. The quality of peace agreements plays a crucial role in determining their durability (https://lnkd.in/gaJqGuRg). 💰 Economic policies and conflict reduction: Economic policies can be effective in reducing the likelihood of conflict, but the results are mixed. For example, Crost et al. used randomly assigned conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs to show significant reduction in conflict-related incidents and insurgent influence in treatment villages in the Philippines, compared to control villages (https://lnkd.in/gWQi7XM3). However different CCT programs or unconditional cash transfers have been shown to increase conflict (https://lnkd.in/g46_-6X6, https://lnkd.in/gAfyFQ7P, https://lnkd.in/gsXKnJat). 💡 Opportunity for causal research in mediation: While there is some literature supporting the correlation between mediation and the reduction in violence, opportunities remain to identify causal effects of mediation, potentially by exploiting exogenous variation. An ongoing project at EconAI is to use a variety of methodologies (instrumental variables, matching, causal forests) to assess the effects of mediation on conflicts. Stay tuned for more updates! #ConflictResolution #PolicyMaking #Mediation *This post was based on Rohner's recent review of the conflict literature (https://lnkd.in/gCbEDd5C)

Important reading and discussion for practice.

Our paper on public support for power-sharing in post-conflict Mosul is out ! Main finding- those who suffered wartime violence are more likely to want “someone in charge” rather than fragile power-sharing agreements given fear of more conflict ! https://lnkd.in/eU4xn-3i

Hi Everyone, I have just completed an article on the serious psychosocial and ecological consequences of the recent increase in exhaustion through our ongoing exploitation. Here is the link to the article. Cheers, Werner https://lnkd.in/gQSRi3_d

"Focus on what can be done and what can work rather than what ought to be done, what should have happened or what what did not happen." ~ truly a philosophy to live by. We recently sat down with #TransitionalJustice expert Fanie Du Toit, to talk about previous as well as ongoing African and global conflicts, but more importantly about the #solutions to these challenges. Over the years Dr. Fanie has researched and worked extensively on TJ processes and Truth & Reconciliation commissions from all over the world to get down to the answer to the question - What does transformative #reconciliation actually look like when it works? Because the answer to this very important question is the hope of transitional justice. It is the hope that reminds TJ practitioners and victims of grave human rights violations, that the efforts we make towards reconciliation are not in vain. He discusses how tensions between governments and TRCs can lead to the burying of reconciliation, therefore for a #TRC to be effective it must be independent from political and personal ambition. A TRC aimed at genuine reconciliation must stand on #humanrights and human rights alone. It is great to glean, document and archive the knowledge that has been gathered through Dr du Toit's many years of painstaking but rewarding work! Watch the video here: ⬇️ #transformativereconciliation #truthcommission #peacebuilding Rutendo Nyaku | Helen Scanlon | Khanyisela Moyo | UNDP | Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR)