Conflict Assessment & Peacebuilding Planning

This website provides an overview along with resources to complement the book
Conflict Assessment & Peacebuilding Planning.

Click here for a 1 hour, narrated on-line training about the book's methods and content for an introduction.

Overview: For those who have not read the book, this website includes an overview and basic resources to consider for the process of conflict assessment (also known as conflict analysis) and peacebuilding planning.

Templates: This website includes short, downloadable templates are available for many of the tables and figures in this handbook. Researchers and planners can use these templates to fill in their own information for use in their own case studies or work.

Shared exercises and learning tools: This website includes educational case studies and videos as well as pedagogical training notes are available for teaching the material in this handbook. Trainers can share their pedagogical ideas for how to teach or conduct conflict assessment and peacebuilding planning.

Shared case studies: Researchers and planners can share their completed conflict assessments for others to see how they have completed a conflict assessment. The website is not a clearinghouse of conflict assessments. It provides examples and case studies that can help others learn how to use the methods described in this handbook.

Summary Chart




Conflict Assessment Lenses

Theory of Change




How well do you understand the local context, language, cultures, religions, etc.?

Where will you work?

Where is the conflict taking place - in what cultural, social, economic, justice, and political context or system?

If x parts of the context are at the root of conflict and division or provide a foundation of resilience and connection between people, what will influence these factors?


How will the context interact with your efforts?

Given your self-assessment, identify your capacity to impact the elements of the context that drive conflict and your ability to foster institutional and cultural resilience.


Where are you in the stakeholder map? Where do you have social capital? To which key actors do you relate? 

Who are the stakeholders – the people who have a stake or interest in the conflict?

If x individual or group is driving or mitigating conflict, then what action will incentivize them to change?

Who will you work with?

Given your self-assessment, decide whom to work with to improve relationships between key stakeholders or support key actors who could play a peacebuilding role between key stakeholders.


How do stakeholders perceive your motivations? 

Why are the stakeholders acting the way they do? What are their motivations?

If x group is motivated to drive or mitigate conflict, what will change or support their motivations?

Why will you work?

Given your self-assessment of your motivations and how stakeholders perceive your motivations, identify how these align with the motivations of the key actors. What is your goal?



What are you capable of doing to address the key drivers and mitigators of conflict?

What factors are driving or mitigating conflict?

If x power sources are driving and mitigating conflict, what actions will influence these factors?

What will you do?

Given your self-assessment, identify which driving and mitigating factors you will address.


What are your resources, means, or sources of power?  How will these shape your efforts?

How is conflict manifested? What are the stakeholders’ means and sources of power?

If x power sources are driving conflict, what will influence these sources of power?

How will you shift power sources in support of peace?

Given your self-assessment, identify and prioritize your capacities to reduce dividers and to increase local capacities for peace.


Do you have an ability to respond quickly to windows of vulnerability or opportunity?

Are historical patterns or cycles of the conflict evident?

If x times are conducive to violence or peace, what will influence these times?

When is the best timing for your peacebuilding efforts?

Given historical patterns, identify possible windows of opportunity or vulnerability and potential triggers and trends of future scenarios.

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