2008, CommDev / Environmental Resources Management (ERM)
This tool is in draft format and under review. Comments and suggestions are welcome and can be sent via email to vnyhanjones@ifc.org or abhalla@ifc.org.
As the world's demand for energy and other extractive industry commodities continues to grow, extractive companies are increasingly driven to explore and develop in areas that are more prone to political instability or conflict. As such, extractive sector investments in both the project itself as well as the community development initiatives can exacerbate or trigger conflict.
This section 1) explores various links between local conflict and community development in the extractive sector, 2) illustrates where conflict can arise during the project cycle, 3) provides a set of lessons learned, and 4) introduces a set of tools to help prevent or mitigate conflict around community development.
The document is focussed on the links between local conflict (not national or international conflict), and extractive sector community development (not the extractive sector project itself). It can be used as a primer on the relationship between conflict and community development and will provide you with a set of lessons learned from peer group companies. It contains tools which may help you to understand and navigate conflict, and design community development programs which are better focussed on conflict prevention or mitigation as appropriate, plus a set of relevant case studies.
