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Since the end of the Cold War, the international community has been
confronted with a number of ongoing conflict situations. From the
beginning of the 1990s to the end of 1999, there were 118 armed
conflicts worldwide, resulting in the death of approximately six
million people. Most of these conflicts take place in the partner
countries participating in developmental cooperation. The civilian
population, the primary target group for developmental interventions,
is increasingly involved in, and affected by, conflict dynamics.
Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA) is a method to anticipate,
observe or evaluate the impact of planned, ongoing or completed
interventions in the structures and processes that decrease the
likelihood of violent conflict and improve the chances for peaceful
co-existence.
The objectives of applying a Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment in a development policy context are:
- To assess the risk of programmes exacerbating conflicts.
- To assess opportunities to improve the effectiveness of
development interventions in contributing to crisis prevention and
conflict reduction.
Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA) is an overarching term that
can be used, prior to the programming of aid (Macro level) and project
planning (Micro level), for the ongoing impact monitoring during the
implementation of interventions, or for post programme and project
evaluation.
At the country level, the national implications of the conflict and
attempts to develop long-term political strategies of conflict
management are examined. Information about possible and necessary
country portfolio adjustments is gathered.
At the project and individual intervention level, the primary focus is
on defining the local dimensions of the main factors causing,
triggering or aggravating tensions, and to devise strategies for
interventions that enable them to respond sensitively to conflict.
These guidelines concentrate on conflict impact assessment on the
project intervention level.
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