Communities in Myanmar have suffered from decades of internal armed conflict and intercommunal tensions. Myanmar has experienced a sharp increase in international development assistance in the recent past, especially following the transition to civilian government.

Development projects are being implemented in Myanmar by a wide range of actors (Government, private sector, Ethnic Armed Organizations, donors, multilaterals, INGOs, NGOS, CSOs, etc.) and a significant number of these projects fall under the broad category of local or community development initiatives. In light of the conflict context in Myanmar and the potential impact of development activities on the context, it is vital that development actors recognize the inevitable impact of development assistance on conflict and peace, and that interventions are designed, managed, implemented and monitored in a conflict-sensitive manner.

This report aims to present experiences and lessons learned for integrating conflict sensitivity into local and community development programmes in Myanmar. While this report focuses on local and community development, many of the findings are equally relevant to other types of development support and investment. The report first assesses broad strategic conflict-sensitivity considerations for development actors operating in Myanmar, before moving on to consider specific practices and experiences of integrating conflict sensitivity into projects at various stages of the project cycle.