Strengthening institutional capability to adopt conflict sensitive approaches Five lessons from the Conflict Sensitivity Resource Facility in South Sudan, 2016–2018

The civil war in South Sudan has resulted in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises for decades. In this context, international aid has become a lifeline for much of the South Sudanese population and economy. However, the scale and nature of this international assistance – valued at over five times the national government budget in 2017 – make it inevitable that aid will affect the economic, social and political drivers of conflict for better or worse. Growing recognition of this interaction has led to increased interest in and support for promoting more conflictsensitive approaches to the design, delivery and management of aid. The promotion of conflict-sensitive approaches is intended to enable organisations to understand the context better, identify risks and opportunities presented by this interaction, and adapt accordingly. This paper presents five lessons on how to promote conflict-sensitive approaches more effectively in complex humanitarian situations, such as South Sudan. It draws on a document review and 26 interviews conducted with stakeholders involved in the implementation of the Conflict Sensitivity Resource Facility (CSRF) in South Sudan. The CSRF is a multi-donor research and capacity-building initiative that provided support to over 15 donor and implementing organisations during a pilot phase between 2016 and 2018. While this paper draws on the experience from this pilot period, the CSRF has since been expanded and extended to cover the period 2019–2023. The experience of the CSRF confirms that promoting more conflict-sensitive approaches is not without challenges. The international aid architecture and realities of working in a complex humanitarian emergency have made it more difficult for resources and attention to be invested in conflict-sensitive approaches. They have also put pressure on relationships within and between organisations, which inhibits collaboration, learning and reflection. In this context, building organisations’ capacity to adopt conflictsensitive approaches must involve systemic organisational change that goes beyond commissioning context analysis, ad hoc training and toolkits. Despite these challenges, the CSRF has helped improve individuals’ understanding of conflict sensitivity and of how to catalyse change not only in specific organisations but also the broader aid community, to create a stronger enabling environment for individuals to put the theory behind conflict sensitivity into practice.