Conflict Sensitive Project Management

On April 2, 2014 Save the Children organized a one-day workshop on ‘Integration of Conflict Sensitivity into Project Management’ which took place at the Hotel Avesto, in Dushanbe. About 20 project managers, Health Life Style Center representatives and community leaders participated to the workshop conducted by Larissa Mettler (Save the Children Switzerland), a leading expert in the field of Conflict Sensitive Project Management, and Dr. Gulchehra Boboeva (Health Program Manager, Save the Children Tajikistan).  

The participants, all involved in the ‘Enhancing primary health care services’ project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by Save the Children and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), actively took part in the workshop, which aimed at promoting the recognition of existing or emerging conflicts in relation to project activities, while providing tools for conflict analysis and mitigation.

In fact, as the workshop facilitator Mrs Mettler explained, unintended outcomes and conflicts arising during project activities can be tackled early on, through a better awareness of causes and symptoms of conflict: in this way, unhealthy escalation of conflict can be avoided, and projects’ effectiveness can be improved.  

Through interactive exercises and real life examples, managers and community leaders learned together the importance of context elements and different actors in project implementation, and how to better utilize this understanding in order to minimize the negative impact and maximize the positive impact of the projects they lead. ‘I can adapt this method and use it in my project: it is the first time I attend a training that will help me to prevent some problems in the community and manage a conflict’ says one the project managers. The feedback on the workshop was very positive: learning how to recognize different perspectives and points of view gave the participants a sharpened awareness of conflict dynamics and mitigation measures, and the right motivation to use Conflict Sensitive Project Management principles in the future.