How to Conduct Your Own Conflict Analysis
A user-friendly guide
“The key to complexity is finding the elegant beauty of simplicity.” — John Paul Lederach
I remember the first conflict analysis I did, some ten or so years ago. I was just getting into consulting in the NGO world, looking to ‘get my foot in the door’ so to speak.
I did well with the CV, and the interview, and the pretending I knew what I was talking about part. Hired. Contracted. Now came the part of figuring out how the hell I was gonna do this thing!
So I downloaded a bunch of PDF guides for conducting conflict analyses. Each was massive, like 100+ pages sometimes! Each had their own approach and came with their own unique set of technical terms. And in the end I came up with a report as massive, complex, and confusing as the guides I was following.
I went on to conduct more conflict analyses, for different organizations, each for different purposes, using different frameworks, approaches, and terminology. I feel like it’s just too easy to overcomplicate things. But to really come up with an analysis that will be of practical use for me, you, or anybody, it’s got to be simple and clear.
