• Dividers are things we want to stop. Connectors are things we want to support.
   
• People are not Dividers or Connectors. The things people do with and to one another are Dividers and Connectors. Dividers and Connectors are the things people talk about and think about and the way they act with each other.
   
• Not everything that is wrong in a community is a Divider. We have a tendency to consider things that make us feel bad as Dividers. Do different people or groups feel differently about those things? Are they causing tensions between individuals or groups?
   
• Some Connectors are actually the bad things in a community that people agree need to change. When people work together to overcome bad things, they are using the bad thing as a Connector.
   
• Look out for weak Connectors. We often perceive weak Connectors as Dividers. Ask yourself is there something I want to stop or reduce? If you don’t want to stop something, but want to start or support something, then you have a weak Connector.
   
• We put the things we see into categories, but often ignore those we do not observe. Every context also has implicit factors, those things everyone “knows” or the things that make up “normal”, everyday life. Stay especially alert to the “normal” things that connect.
   
• Dividers and Connectors change over time. Use them to pay attention to changes in social dynamics.
   
• Dividers and Connectors exist in all contexts, even those that are not explicitly in conflict.
   
• Dividers and Connectors Analysis is effective precisely because it has just two categories. Do not overcomplicate.
   

Previous Page Context and Conflict Analysis
Next Page Using Dividers and Connectors

Related Topics
Dividers and Connectors as Categories
Common Misunderstandings about Dividers and Connectors
How to do a Dividers/Connectors Analysis
Do No Harm SAVES: Categories for Disaggregating a Context