Towards Conflict-Sensitive Employment in Large-Scale Infrastructure Projects in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings: Recommendations for Donor Agencies

This policy brief is on infrastructure-building in fragile and conflict-affected settings. It is based on three years of research on conflict-sensitive business and employment of Afghan construction and transport companies under conditions of mounting violent conflict between 2015 and 2017.

It follows detailed field research in construction sites that were controlled by the Taliban and partly contested between the national government and the Taliban, intensive discussions with owners, managers of construction and transport companies as well as employees and workers, stakeholder workshops with donor and development agencies, development banks and chambers of commerce as well as academic experts on Afghanistan in Kabul, London, Brussels and Bonn.

The research was then used to develop a conflict-sensitive employment framework for local construction and transport companies, which was tested and amended following results from practical implementation and feedback from local stakeholders in four Afghan conflict sites and is available in English, Dari and Pashto.