Today, DRC is present in 11 of Iraq’s 19 governorates, assisting Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and returnees across much of the country. DRC has progressively adapted the scope of its response to the changing context in Iraq, moving beyond large-scale, emergency programming in camps in favor of more specialized early recovery activities, while maintaining capacity to address sudden onset crises.
To meet these goals, DRC’s programming in Iraq focuses on economic recovery initiatives, individual and community protection, Camp Management and Camp Coordination (CCCM), shelter and infrastructure provision, and through the Danish Demining Group (DDG), Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) and armed violence reduction. Part of DRC’s programming is carrying out gender-sensitive conflict analysis to inform the design of projects and / or proposals by DRC.
The gender-sensitive conflict analysis includes:
- Generation of a shared understanding of the local conflict dynamics and types of conflict
- Root causes, factors and triggers
- Effects of local conflict
- Existing conflict management mechanisms (their strength and weaknesses)
- Key stakeholders and their relationships (participatory actor mapping) including stakeholders / actors influencing and /or impacted by local conflicts. This may include community leaders, local youth groups and community mobilizers.
- Connectors and dividers (what divides or unites people)
- Priorities defined by communities of what and how conflicts should be addressed
- What are the needs in terms of capacity building and possible processes that could be put in place.
Such understanding informs the design of activities that may impact these dynamics in positive and negative ways. DRC programs and proposals then include activities that mitigate or optimize these dynamics by identifying conflict sensitivity risks and opportunities. These activities and / or mechanisms are then considered throughout project implementation phase. They are used as well as entry points for relevant conflict prevention and social cohesion programming.