Lesson 3: Interventions interact with Dividers and Connectors

All interventions interact with both Dividers and Connectors, either making them worse or making them better

This is the inescapable fact of intervention. As we become part of a context, we have an effect on factors in that context. Do No Harm has found that in practice this means interventions have impacts on both Dividers and Connectors. This happens no matter what. However, we have control over whether our interactions are negative or positive. We also can change what we are doing if impacts are negative in order to change the path of the impact to be positive.

Negative Impacts

The principle of “do no harm” warns us to pay special attention to the negative impacts of interventions when are attempting to do good. There are two types of negative impact. First, interventions can make Dividers worse, raising tensions or increasing the likelihood of conflict. Second, an intervention can reduce Connectors, interfering with or blocking the ability of people to mitigate conflict. Reducing the scope of normal life is another way to decrease Connectors.

Positive Impacts

Because Connectors are often overlooked, Do No Harm tells us to pay special attention to the positive impacts of interventions. Dividers can be reduced by addressing the tensions they create or preventing them from breaking into conflict. Connectors can be supported, providing space, time, and resources for people to work on their own conflicts and normal life can be assisted.

We have seen that people in a conflict situation tend to reduce the scope of their lives, shrinking and narrowing their routines to areas where safety is more, if not completely, assured. This is not normal life and it reduces Connectors.

We all share the desire for a life free from considerations of conflict. Wondering how and if we or our children will make it safely through the day is a desperate way to live. The desire to get back to a life of such functional harmony is a driving force in the lives of many people in conflict. Looking for what people have retained of normalcy is a clue for interveners about the Connectors their efforts could reinforce and help strengthen.

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