WASH for Peace - Conflict Sensitivity and Peacebuilding Guidance and Tools for the WASH Sector

Mon, 04/15/2024 - 07:55

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"WASH interventions in fragile and conflict-affected contexts are at risk of unintentionally worsening conflict or contributing to wider conflict dynamics."

This set of guidance and tools has been developed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to support the integration of conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding into water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programming in fragile and conflict-affected contexts (FCCs). It is designed to equip UNICEF staff and sector partners with the necessary resources and tools to develop effective WASH interventions that contribute to peacebuilding efforts. The guide emphasises the importance of understanding the conflict context, minimising negative impacts, and leveraging WASH programming to address the root causes of conflict and promote social cohesion. It includes practical tools and frameworks for conducting age and gender-sensitive conflict and peace analysis, developing results frameworks, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plans. The document also highlights the role of partnerships and capacity development in enhancing the conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding potential of WASH programmes.

As explained in the guide, "There are important opportunities for WASH to contribute to build and sustain peace, but a recent evaluation of UNICEF WASH programming noted that many such opportunities are missed. This is due to a number of factors: programmes in FCCs often fail to articulate explicit peacebuilding outcomes; M&E systems in the WASH sector do not systematically track social changes, making it difficult to detail contributions of WASH programming to conflict prevention and peacebuilding; and there is a lack of institutional capacity, for example to develop and implement conflict and peace analysis and integrate findings to support conflict-sensitive and peacebuilding interventions."

The guidance is designed to inform new and existing programmes and is intended for UNICEF country offices, WASH teams, sector partners, and national counterparts to help them identify and leverage opportunities to build and sustain peace through WASH.

The content is structured in a modular way around five complementary guides that together and sequentially support the whole programme/intervention cycle, but they can also be used as stand-alone resources. Each of the guides is accompanied by a set of programming toolkits to support the application of the approaches and actions proposed. The guides and accompanying tools are as follows:

Age and Gender-Sensitive Conflict and Peace Analysis (CPA) Guide & Toolkit: As gender and age intersect in important ways that enable or constrain WASH's ability to build and sustain peace, this guide provides a framework and step-by-step guidance to design and implement a WASH-relevant and age/gender-sensitive conflict and peace analysis (CPA). Four tools are included to support the process of planning, designing, and implementing a CPA:

CPA Tool 1: Age and Gender-Sensitive WASH Conflict and Peace Analysis Framework
CPA Tool 2: Age and Gender-Sensitive WASH Conflict and Peace Analysis Process
CPA Tool 3: Age and Gender-Sensitive WASH Conflict and Peace Scan
CPA Tool 4: Sample Conflict and Peace Analysis Tools

Conflict Sensitivity & Peacebuilding M&E Guide & Toolkit: The M&E Guide and Toolkit outlines practical steps to guide the development of results frameworks and M&E plans to support WASH programming contributions to peace in FCCs. The guide includes the following tools to support operationalisation:

M&E Tool 1: Conflict Sensitive and Peacebuilding WASH M&E Planning Tool
M&E Tool 2: UNICEF Strategic Plan Conflict Sensitivity and Peacebuilding Core Standard Indicators (CSI)
M&E Tool 3: Monitoring Attacks against WASH: The Geneva List of Principles

Conflict Sensitivity and Peacebuilding Programming Guide & Toolkit: This guide outlines the steps to integrate the findings of conflict and peace analysis into programming to strengthen conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding approaches to WASH. The guide identifies potential WASH contributions to building and sustaining peace and accompanies readers through the decision-making process for conflict-sensitive and peacebuilding programme design and/or adaptation. The guide is supported by six tools:

Programming Tool 1: 'Good Enough' WASH in Emergencies Conflict Sensitivity Tool
Programming Tool 2: WASH for Peace ToC [Theory of Change] Tool
Programming Tool 3: Conflict-Sensitive WASH Programming Tool
Programming Tool 4: Peacebuilding WASH Programming Tool
Programming Tool 5: Guide to Integrating a Gender Lens into WASH for Peace Programming
Programming Tool 6: Guide to Integrating Climate Resilience, Conflict Sensitivity, and Peacebuilding - Identifying and Leveraging Opportunities to 'Climate Proof' WASH for Peace Programming
Programming Tool 7: WASH for Peace Internal and External Advocacy Strategy Canvas
Programming Tool 8: Sample WASH for Peace Messages

Capacity Development Guide & Toolkit: This guide was developed to be used as a capacity development resource and includes step-by-step guidance and tools that can be used by country offices and WASH teams, including:

Capacity Development Tool 1: Sample WASH Conflict Sensitivity and Peacebuilding Focal Points Guide
Capacity Development Tool 2: Conflict Sensitivity Competencies

Partnerships Guide & Toolkit - Leveraging Capacity and Resources: This guide briefly explores the range of partnerships available to UNICEF to support the integration of conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding to WASH, including civil society, donors, and the private sector. Partnerships are the backbone of UNICEF's work on the ground and, as the WASH sector embraces conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding as important approaches in FCCs, so new and strengthened partnerships must be developed to engage the right capacity and expertise. The guide includes the following tool to support partnership development: