Conflict analysis is part of IOM South Sudan’s commitment to evidence-based response planning and has been crucial to improving our programme delivery and contributing to a shared understanding of conflict, violence and displacement in what is otherwise an incredibly fluid environment. Together with the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), conflict analysis has supplied the basis for contextually relevant and conflict sensitive policy and practice in South Sudan where we have been able to not only ensure that our programmes ‘do no harm,’ but that they contribute to transformation change.

In close collaboration with DTM, the Mission’s Conflict Analysis Unit focuses on both macro-level analysis of the national political, conflict and humanitarian context, including population movements, as well as micro-level analysis at the sub-national and local levels to better shape and inform the design and implementation of our various projects across the humanitarian-peace-development nexus and help to identify entry points for our humanitarian, resilience and peacebuilding programming. IOM has a long history of producing conflict analysis and research and since 2019 alone has produced dozens of analyses corresponding to various geographically and thematically defined areas, such as youth violence, which has helped shaped our engagements.

While analysis is the cornerstone of conflict sensitivity programming and part of IOM-South Sudan’s dedication to evidence-based response planning, we also focus on mainstreaming conflict sensitivity. This has meant creating spaces for dialogue and reflection within the Mission and beyond, as well as providing training to staff and developing a variety of tools for monitoring conflict sensitivity and ensuring that conflict sensitivity concerns and mitigation measures are reflected in our day-to-day operations and that we do not miss out on opportunities to move beyond "do no harm" and leverage our humanitarian and development investments to contribute to peacebuilding outcomes.