CICS has developed cutting-edge research and policy expertise in the inter-relationships between: violent conflict; human security; social development; and related democratic governance and international assistance issues. These are issues of interest across Peace Studies, and thus also of collaboration between CICS, individual researchers and other research centres in Peace Studies, as well as internationally.

CICS researchers regularly advise, assist or co-operate with governments, multilateral agencies, regional and international organizations and NGOs in these areas.

For example, since 2006, CICS leads a partnership with Saferworld to provide ‘peace and security’ advice on ‘development cooperation’ to the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) through a ‘Help Desk’ mechanism as well as longer ‘Specific Assignments’.

This multi-year contract follows on from our previous Framework Agreement with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for similar services from 2003-06. The aim of this contract was to provide consultancy services on issues of conflict, security and development (CSD) to DFID and also, through the UK’s ‘Conflict Prevention Pools’ mechanism, to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Ministry of Defense (MoD). This large contract recognized the breadth and depth of expertise at Peace Studies in conflict and security issues and in developing and transitional countries across the world. Projects were carried out on a wide variety of topics, including:

• developing conflict prevention and reduction strategies for the Middle East and North Africa;
• security sector reform;
• regional conflict prevention networks in Asia;
• small arms control and development programming;
• lessons learned and emerging good practices in providing food aid to rebel groups;
• use of multilateral trust funds to support ceasefires with rebel groups;
• applying sustainable development criteria in arms export controls;
• providing expert support for a UK international initiative on guidelines for controlling small arms transfers;
• co-organising, facilitating and reporting regional policy workshops on conflict prevention in Asia and West Africa;
• the inter-relationships between armed violence and poverty reduction;
• recent experience and emerging good practices in international policing operations;
• comparing costs of conflict prevention and post-conflict intervention;
• HIV/AIDS and conflict; and
• the further development of UK conflict prevention strategies on small arms, security sector reform, and in conflict prone regions under the ‘Global Conflict Prevention Pool’.

To carry out these projects, CICS convened appropriate teams of experts from within CICS and Peace Studies and from its national and international networks.

Earlier projects on ‘Conflict and Development’ include:

• CICS, together with the Centre for Conflict Resolution, completed a research project with UNDP in Kosovo.
• Jeremy Ginifer produced studies of demobilization, disarmament and re-integration programmes in Sierra Leone and North East DRC.
• Together with Owen Greene, NUPI and BICC, Jeremy organized an international workshop in November 2002 on post-conflict reconstruction and small arms control in Angola.