Konfliktkartlegging

Konfliktkartlegging is the systematic collection, analysis, and synthesis of information about a conflict to build a shared understanding of its causes, actors, dynamics, and risks. The aim is to inform prevention, peacebuilding, humanitarian response, and policy planning.

The process covers political, social, economic, ethnic and religious dimensions and identifies actors from state and non-state actors, their interests and power relations, resources, alliances, grievances, and fault lines. It also maps triggers, historical dynamics, geographic spread, displacement patterns, and information flows such as media narratives.

Methods combine qualitative and quantitative techniques, including desk research, key informant interviews, surveys, focus groups, incident data, network analysis, and geographic information systems. Outputs typically include stakeholder maps, power and interest matrices, conflict timelines, hotspot or risk maps, and escalation scenarios. The approach emphasizes triangulation and validation with local actors.

Applications include early warning and risk assessment, prioritization of interventions, design and evaluation of programmes, and governance or mediation planning. Ethical considerations are central: informed consent, safety and confidentiality, do-no-harm principles, data protection, and local ownership of findings. Limitations include data quality and bias, security risks, the dynamic and covert nature of conflicts, and the risk of misinterpretation or misapplication of results.

In practice, konfliktkartlegging is used by NGOs, civil society, and international organizations to understand conflicts and to guide preventive and response actions.