Bringing participatory development into conflict analysis – experience from Rakhine state, Myanmar
| Dates: | 26 September 2017 |
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| Times: | 17:00 - 18:30 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, Alumni, Current University students |
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| Speaker: | Dr Anthony Ware |
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Students and colleagues are invited to join us for HCRI's opening Speaker Series for the 2017/18 events programme.
The Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI) Speaker Series is a regular student-focused forum that draws on the expertise of a range of practitioners, academics and researchers both within HCRI and more widely, covering a broad range of humanitarian-related issues and contexts.
The Speaker Series provides an opportunity to learn from and interact with scholars and practitioners in an informal and intimate environment in order to gain insights from people's own experiences.
"Bringing participatory development into conflict analysis"
Over the past two decades, the practice of ‘conflict sensitivity’ has become central to the planning and implementation of development interventions in conflict-affected situations. An umbrella term encompassing a cluster of analytical frameworks and tools, it seeks to analyse conflict dynamics in order to minimise negative impacts and maximise support for positive systemic change. Most approaches, however treat conflict analysis as largely technical, requiring external expertise. Thus while all espouse participation by all stakeholders, participatory practice is not inherently embedded in any of the approaches. At best, participation involves civil society actors and local elite; poor, marginalised and perhaps semi-literate village members are rarely involved.
Noting recent local, micro and narrative 'turns' in conflict and peace studies, and recent trials of more participatory methodologies for conflict monitoring or analysis, this article argues the emancipatory and transformation aspirations of participatory development should be reconsidered. Given conflict sensitivity presupposes development can strengthen ‘local capacities for peace’, this paper makes a case for the adaptation of PLA-style tools to a participatory conflict analysis at the village-level, as much as a means of enhancing critical-awareness, capability, and local peacebuilding agency as for agency data gathering on the conflict.
Speaker
Dr Anthony Ware
Role: Hallsworth Visiting Scholar
Organisation: Deakin University, Australia
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
To be confirmed
