Conflict-sensitive approaches training

Organized with funding from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
Aino Friman,
konfliktikompassi@saferglobe.fi
26.11.2015
Concepts that change the world,
www.saferglobe.fi
CONFLICT-SENSITIVE APPROACHES
–training
#konfliktikompassi
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
FOR FRAGILE STATES –programme

Content
• SaferGlobe in a nutshell
• Survey results
• Key concepts for today’s topic
• Business activities in fragile areas, challenges and benefits
• Conflict Compass as a tool for business operations
• Exercise and discussion
Concepts that change the world

SaferGlobe: Peace and Security research network
• SaferGlobe researches themes of peace and security. We bring multi-
disciplinary expertise to create new perspectives.
– We are an independent research network and our members consists only of
private individuals. Despite the English name, we do not have a foreign
”umbrella organization”
• Our research:
– Comprehensive: research from arm trade to development cooperation.
– Multidisciplinary, practical, critical and solution orientated
• We fund our work by to order –research, fund-raising, project funding,
voluntary work and business activities.
• Established 2009, includes approximately 60 researchers, 10 publications
annually

Briefly about me
• Education:
– Master of Social Sciences, University of Turku, 2012. Major: Political Science.
Minors: Development Cooperation, Business, Strategy (National Defense
University)
– Master of Science, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki, studies
ongoing. Major: Agricultural Economics. Minor: Natural resource and
environmental economics
– Studies abroad: China (2012), Denmark (2011), South Africa (2011), Uganda (2010)
• Recent work experience
– UNDP Afghanistan
– Embassy of Finland in Pristina, Kosovo
– University of Turku, Department of Political Science and Contemporary History
– The Permanent Mission of Finland to the UN, New York
• Also a lot of volunteer work in Finland (Taksvärkki ry, SaferGlobe Finland,
Luetaan yhdessä –network) and in Kosovo (Balkan Sunflowers)

Survey results

Key concepts: Fragile areas
• Fragile areas: areas that include countries which have limited
capacity 1) to produce and maintain reliable public services and
2) to maintain transparent and open relationship to the civil
society.
• Usually they have, for example, high conflict potential:
depending on the level of the fragility even a small crisis can
escalate to a conflict.
– Fragile areas do not have the so called resilience (elasticity,
tolerance for crisis situations).
• Countries are fragile in different ways and there is no universally
agreed definition for fragile areas/states.

OECD, 2015

Key concepts: the approaches
• Corporate Responsibility: responsiblity of a company’s actions
and their impact to the society (defined by the European
Commission).
– The concept of corporate responsibility do not directly include conflict-sensitive
approach.
• Risk management: aims to safeguard the company’s business
operations in all situations.
– Risk management is more an one-way approach.
• Conflict-sensitive approach: two-way approach. Aims to
minimalize the negative impacts and maximize the positive
impacts.
– Conflict-sensitive approach is a win-win opportunity: your business functions
better, the costs are in its minimal and the local benefit from your business more.
(crime prevention, peace building)

Conflict-sensitive approach can support corporate responsibility
and risk management, not replace them
CORPORATE
RESPONSIBILITY
RISKMANAGEMENT
CONFLICT-
SENSITIVE
APPROACH

Business operations in fragile areas
• The company’s business operations can also have an impact to the
working environment (espacially in fragile areas). This could be:
– neutral effect
– increase the conflict potential
– support the stabilization of the country.
• When a company enters to a developing/ fragile area, it usually
increases the conflict potential. New business operations tend to
bring, for example:
– unequally distributed prosperity
– competition about the jobs
– opportunities for theft, blackmailing, kidnapping, etc.

Business operations in fragile areas: concerns
• Even a good business operations can fail badly if the planning and
situation analysis have not been done comprehensively.
• The challenges are especially complex to companies which operations
are capital intensive and requires widely developed infrastructure (for
example extractive sector).
– Big companies usually have deeply thought business plans but small or
medium scale operators don’t
• Business operations in fragile areas are a risk – why bother?
www.saferglobe.fi

Business operations in fragile areas: benefits
• Benefits for the company itself, investors, economy of Finland,
economy of the fragile state:
– More competition opportunities
– Opportunities for growth
– Opportunities for the locals: employment and prosperity. Business
as a part of sustainable society.
• Other opportunities, for example:
– Growing markets
– Usually very cost-effective opportunities
– A lot of unused business potential (for example educated labor,
international capital, natural resources, etc.)
• In addition, especially crisis and security business operations are
currently a growing international trend.

Our suggestion is to think beyond the comfort zone. Plan wisely, plan with
conflict-sensitive approach and create a stabilizing, win-win situation to a fragile
state and to its economy
Build your operations to help
promote peace and stability:
Conflict Compass

Our solution: Conflict Compass
• Conflict compass is an app
produced with the support of
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
of Finland
• The app is free and available
on
www.saferglobe.fi/konfliktikomp
assi
• Currently it is available only in
Finnish but we are looking to
translate it also to English

Conflict Compass is a tool for business operations
• Mapping the operating environment
– Conflict analysis – reasons, factors and actors in the conflict
– Planning operating models with local stakeholders
– Conflict-sensitive working methods –personnel training
• Risks and possibilities of operating in fragile contexts
– Resilience –we transfer know-how and chains of production to the host
country
– Feedback system – we know when problems arise, and we will react
appropriately
– Plan B – the operations can be modified when so needed
• Impact on peace and security
– Stability –our operations maximize positive impacts and minimize the
negative ones
– Positivity –we will share good results and experiences
– Commitment –we have a long-term commitment to the area.

Exercise: how would you advise...?
• Form groups of 4-5 people
• Read the country profile
– Half will focus on the situation 1, half on the situation 2
• Discuss about the situations by using the conflict compass
guidelines. Think of following questions, for example:
– What kind of problems the companies might face?
– What are the benefits for doing business in Kaboom?
– How these companies could advance conflict-sensitive
approach? What are the main issues to be taken into
consideration?
• Time: 10-15 minutes

Thank you!
Questions? Comments?

Conflict-sensitive approaches training

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