Conflict Mitigation

Conflict and Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (CCVCA) Ségou region, Mali (GENRE+II Project))

The Ségou region of Mali is experiencing a steady increase in impacts from climate change, such as more erratic and reduced rainfall, increased temperatures, intensified seasonal flooding when rains do occur, and increased incidence of human and livestock diseases. These impacts interact with population pressures and natural resource management challenges to affect historical land use practices, such as agriculture and pastoralism, in the semi-urban and rural communes within the cercles of Baraouéli, Bla and Ségou. In these communes, women engage in a range of livelihood and subsistence activities related to natural resources, such as market gardening and forest product harvesting, often significantly augmenting household income. Therefore, it is important to include women in conflict resolution mechanisms over land and water, accounting for a scenario where climate impacts are predicted to intensify.
The Genre++ project, funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), works with communities to identify and address interrelated causes and impacts of climate vulnerability, conflict and gender inequality. A novel Climate and Conflict Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (CCVCA) tool was used to carry out a rapid participatory analysis of vulnerabilities and adaptive capacity with representatives from 12 communes in Ségou region (144 female, 156 male) from 9 to 20 March 2023. This report summarises the results of this analysis, discussing how climate change has interacted with other economic and demographic pressures to create tensions around natural resource management. It also details the community members’ current responses, as well as their recommendations for future action. Read More...

Young Men’s Initiative (YMI) Impact Study Research

Since 2006, a coalition of local, regional, and international organizations has been promoting positive masculine identities under the banner of the Young Men Initiative (YMI). YMI is a regional program built upon CARE’s comprehensive and programmatic effort to fight interpersonal and gender based violence (GBV), as well as improve gender equality in the region and address preventative measures related to youth extremism and violence. The program is being implemented in municipalities and high schools in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia, Kosovo*1, and Serbia. The heart of YMI is “Program Y” (youth), which focuses on transforming the school environment into one that promotes gender equality and a culture of non-violence. The core of Program Y’s intervention is a series of group educational workshops accompanied by social norms campaigns that promote a
critical and personal reflection on gender, masculinities, and health, with a strong focus on violence prevention. The objective of the impact study is to discover the changes that occurred in implementation sites in terms of the
perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of young people in the period from 2014 until 2020 in key program areas: (1) gender attitudes; (2) violence prevention; (3) sexual and reproductive health; (4) alcohol and drug abuse; and (5) the prevention of sexual violence, as a result of the direct engagement of CARE and its partners. The study also aims to identify which methods and approaches Read More...

Beyond Economic Empowerment The Influence of Savings Groups on Women’s Public Participation in Fragile and (post) Conflict-Affected Settings

Promoting women’s meaningful participation and influence in governance processes in fragile and (post) conflict-affected settings (FCAS) is necessary to achieve inclusive development. Existing evidence suggests that by economically empowering women, they will be able to better participate in public decision-making processes. One such mechanism for women’s economic empowerment in Sudan is through Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA), which are savings groups that offer women a space to come together to save money, take out small loans, and make investment decisions.
The mixed methods study conducted in seven villages across three states (East Darfur, South Darfur, and South Kordofan) sought to answer the research question “To what extent does women’s participation in savings groups affect their public participation in governance or decision-making processes?” Additionally, this study investigated the differences between women who participated in VSLAs under the Every Voice Counts (EVC) and Latter Day Saints Charities (LDS) Recovery Support for Vulnerable Households programmes as well as the differences from participation in different community groups (VSLAs, community advocacy groups, and other community-based organisations). These comparisons helped to offer an explanation of how different programmatic approaches from civil society and different community groups did or did not affect women members’ public participation.
Through the findings of this study, it can be concluded that indeed women’s participation in savings groups (VSLAs) affects their public participation in community governance structures and decision-making. The extent, though, is dependent on a variety of factors including the gender composition of the VSLA, the support of family and community members, the support and resources contributed by programmes and partners, social norms and exclusionary practices within the communities, and the will of the women members themselves. Read More...

Enhancing resilience through improved food security, disaster risk reduction and peaceful co-existence In South and East Darfur

This base line survey was conducted for the project “Enhancing resilience through improved food security, disaster risk reduction and peaceful co-existence in South and East Darfur.” The baseline was designed to collect data in the targeted communities in South and East Darfur State to assess the situation before the start of the project and determine the benchmarks for the designed project indicators. The baseline used mixed methods for data collection, including: desk review of project documents, individual interviews with household leaders using structured questionaires, FGDs with representatives from different groups in the communities, KIIs with institutional representatives.
The targeted areas in East and South Darfur are suffering from acute and chronic malnutrition. It is widespread and poses a significant public health problem, caused by acute food insecurity, unstable livelihoods, limited health services, poor hygiene practices and the lack of access to adequate safe drinking water and sanitation practices.
Women and children travel far distance to fetch water. During the rainy season, people may get poor quality water, which negatively affects their health. The government institutions have very poor capacity and lack the required logistics to provide good and sustainable water supply.
Women and girls are vulnerable to GBV, especially when they go far distances seeking different services such as water collection, firewood, farming, marketing and markets.
Women also face a very high burden, as they are responsible and participating in all household chores such as childcare, farming, fetching water, and transporting products to markets. This negatively affects children's nutrition and hygiene practices and exacerbates malnutrition. On other hand they have a limited access to resources and income-generating activities, and do not share any responsibilities in community structure, where men alone control and have access of most resources and have more decision-making power than women.
847,126 people in South Darfur and 124,351 in East Darfur are in IPC Phase 3 or higher and unable to meet their immediate needs. Kass and East Jebel Mara in South Darfur have the highest number of people experiencing acute food insecurity at 25% and 35% respectively, which need urgent intervention to contribute in reduction of acute food insecurity caused by currency devaluation, inflation, and local conflict is hitting both states.
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Promoting Peace and Socio-Economic Development among Conflict-Affected Communities In South, East Darfur and South Kordofan States

CARE has Implemented IcSP project “Promoting Peace and Socio-Economic Development for Conflict–Affected Communities in South Darfur, East Darfur and South Kordofan states" to contribute in achieving relevant results in terms of social stability, increased social cohesion, enhanced recovery and socio-economic integration among conflicting communities for selected vulnerable communities.
The final evaluation was conducted for this project from 12 September to 30 October 2021 to assess the project performance and achieving the intended results. Different methods were used for collecting the data, including: desk review, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), in addition to direct interviews with 393 household leaders, 59.2% of them are females.
The impact of conflict and dispute to the community needa to be addressed. 28.9% of respondants declare that it will led to Loss lives & properties,12% to destruction of infrastructure,16.6 % to displacement, 23.3% dismantling social coexistence,12.3% loss of livelihoods. 75% of total respondents say it will be all above.
People report that the best way and means of resolving conflict are: 84.9 % resolved by in official fair mechanism, 5.1% report that by official courts. This indicates that they trust in CBRMs are effective in solving disputes/cases and are accessible to everyone.
45.6% report that CBRMs are accessible to everyone to great extent, ,22.8 % to some extent, 8.1% minimally, and 23.6% not at all. On the other hand, 71.7% report that decisions made by conflicts resolution mechanisms are acceptable, where 23.3 % report that to some extent and 8.1% minimally.
Communities in the targeted areas get their drinking water from various sources,66% report that from water point, 23.5% from hand pumps, 8.8 % from hand dug wells, where 1.7 % from Haffir. The result indicated that around 10 % of total population get their water from contaminated surface water source other 90% get their water from safe water sources. Read More...

Sawtahaa (Her Voice) in Peacebuilding and Recovery Actions Final Evaluation

The longstanding cultural practices across Sudan often exclude women from decision making, even in issues of direct concern to them, such as early marriage and FGM. This report builds on CARE's efforts in the context of the “Sawtahaa” project to analyse women's situation in the post conflict processes and to enhance transformative change in three areas, namely: structure, relations and agency. This was directed to enhance women's role in decision making and in addressing issues of direct concern to them.

The Darfur Community Peace and Stability Fund (DCPSF) was launched in 2007 to help facilitate peacebuilding by restoring the capacity and authority of traditional community-based conflict resolution mechanism and to enhance the delivery of economic and basic social services by implementing a number of community-based activities.
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Gender-Sensitive Conflict Analysis in South and East Darfur States, Sudan, 2022

CARE International in Sudan is implementing the project “Enhancing resilience through improved food security, disaster risk reduction and peaceful co-existence in South and East Darfur states, Sudan” (1 September 2021 – 31 August 2025) through funding from the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The project addresses the specific needs, vulnerabilities, and capacities of women, youth, and persons with disabilities to strengthen their resilience to buffer, adapt, and respond to future shocks at an individual, family, and community levels. This gender sensitive conflict analysis in East and South Darfur – representing eight villages – is to understand the causes, power and gender dynamics, and actors of conflicts in the project area.

The conflict in Darfur is escalating rapidly, with eight times more people killed and displaced in 2021 than in 2020. Inflation rose by 359% in 2021. Climate change—marked by devastating floods and prolonged droughts—combined with food insecurity and a lack of services leaves people feeling violence is their only choice.
A profoundly unequal and harmful set of social norms that do not value women, and even refer to them as vessels of the devil, coupled with laws that do not protect women and their rights, are pushing many burdens of this crisis onto women. A common saying is, “Almara mamlouka ela malak Almout” or “A woman is owned to death.” As the situation gets more extreme and livelihoods and service get scarcer, women are more likely to be working outside the home to help meet family needs. Men have not increased their involvement in household chores and childcare to compensate for these shifts—leaving women with even higher burdens than before. The shifts in women having to work outside the home have not translated into corresponding improvements in women’s rights, engagement in politics, or access to public life.
This research draws from 20 focus groups and 20 Key Informant Interviews that represent the views of 193 people (45% of whom were women) in eight villages in July of 2022. It also looks at 44 secondary sources.
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Conflict Sensitive Rapid Gender Analysis Cabo Delgado, Mozambique

The on-going armed insurgency in Cabo Delgado that started in 2017 and the mass displacement it caused have created a complex humanitarian crisis in one of Mozambique’s poorest regions, Cabo Delgado. Prior to the crisis, Cabo Delgado province already suffered from high levels of poverty and absence of services. This situation has been worsened by the crisis which depleted what little resilience the province’s population had. Host communities find themselves having to share already scarce resources. There are evident signs of solidarity fatigue and tensions between IDPs and host communities result in frequent conflicts.

IDPs in Cabo Delgado are suffering from dire living conditions, extremely limited access to basic services and struggling to meet essential needs. Widespread lack of access to cash and income generating opportunities are causing negative multi-layered gendered impacts on the lives of IDPs. IDPs living in resettlement centres are among
those most vulnerable, women and children making up the majority of residents, where access to resources or income generating opportunities is very limited. Female-headed IDP households have constrained access to land when compared to their male counterparts, making subsistence farming difficult. The combination of these factors
has led to the commodification of humanitarian aid with the sale of part of the food received through humanitarian assistance being a prevalent practice.

While humanitarian assistance has been vital in meeting IDPs’ most urgent needs, there are still immense and persistent needs. Life at resettlement centres is difficult and protection risks abound, particularly for women and girls. Water is scarce and fetching it is an arduous and often dangerous task for women and girls. Access to health care is
limited, including to maternal and sexual and reproductive health services. Reports of sexual exploitation and abuse were frequent and included cases of community leaders requesting money or sex in exchange for guaranteed access to humanitarian aid. Read More...

Galdogob and Bursalah Stabilization and Economic Development Initiative

Through the project activities mainly VSLAs, vocational training and infrastructure projects, beneficiaries in the project location of Galdogob and Bursallah have realized improved access to financial services (savings and loans) as well as improved livelihood opportunities especially for vulnerable groups in the community mainly the youth and female members of the community.

Through successfully facilitating dialogue between communities from Galdogob and Bursalah, conducting reconciliations dialogues between clan/tribes, conducting forums for women empowerment and participation in decision-making, engaging youth in peer-to-peer dialogues and peer networks, conducting dialogues between the community and the Puntland Government and conducting talk shows and engaging the media, the project has realized increased collaboration between community members and government in local development and conflict management and also enhanced trust between community and government.

In addition, enhanced civic education-conflict management skills of community members have equipped the community with the necessary skills to address conflicts between clans in Galdogob and Bursalah while installation of solar street lights Galdogob/ Bursalah and construction and equipping of Galdogob police station were identified as important connectors between community members as well as between community members and the government through ensuring common use of resources and improving governance outcomes such as safety and security, trust and access to services. [37 pages] Read More...

CARE Rapid Gender Analysis Um Rakuba Camp and Tunaydbah Settlement, Eastern Sudan April 2021

Since 9 November 2020, Ethiopian and Eritrean asylum seekers have been arriving in Eastern Sudan, fleeing a military escalation in the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia. Eastern Sudan is facing multiple challenges including high levels of food insecurity, flood recovery, increased militarisation on the Sudan and Ethiopia border, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and the impacts of mitigation and containment measures. As of 17th April (latest situation report), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Government’s Commissioner for Refugees (COR) registered 62,850 individuals who have crossed the border into Eastern Sudan. It is estimated that 36% of the arrivals are female and 64% are male. Further estimations show that 27% of the arrivals are children (0-17years); out of which 8% are below 5 years. Elderly (+60years) comprise 4% and Adults (18-59 years) 69% of the arrivals. Of those who arrived, data as of January 2021, showed 15,056 are women and girls of reproductive age and 1,365 currently pregnant women. Primary data collection, through FGDs, KIIs and Individual Stories, took place between 16-18th February 2021, in Um Rakuba camp and Tunaydbah settlement.

RGA objectives were to:
• Better understand, the main needs, priorities and coping strategies of women, men, girls and boys,
as well as at-risk groups in Um Rakuba camp and Tunaydbah settlement
• Identify how CARE and the wider humanitarian community can adapt and design targeted services
and assistance to meet these needs, ensuring we do no harm. Read More...

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