Spilling Blood over Water? The he of Ethiopia 291
may include analysis of existing conflict, including the impact of recent eco-
logical and social change, and linkages between these and their causes and
impacts, in order to identify where intervention is appropriate and effective.
There is also a need to understand and identify any gaps in the methods used
to prevent and resolve conflict. At the same time, it is essential to explore
pathways in politics and policy to redress conflict. Ascertaining the relation-
ship between resource users and resource uses, the types of conflict that exist
and their sources and alliances may help to identify areas for intervention in
conflict prevention and resolution.
In addition, development agencies require new roles. A shift in bias from
technical development to social development is needed, although the two dis-
ciplines remain closely interlinked. "Until resource conflicts are resolved or
at least systems are in place to enable conflict resolution, the livelihoods,
resource management systems and capacities of pastoralists will continue to
be disrupted and under~nined."'~~
The international community has begun to recognise the need for more
sustainable solutions to livelihood challenges, as well as the need to integrate
conflict prevention and resolution into the overall design and implementation
of development projects. For example, the UNDP office in Ethiopia is
strengthening upstream policy interventions. The primary objective of Project
ETH/97/005 'Suppon to Water Resources Development and Utilisation' pro-
gramme is to assist the government to formulate and implement water poli-
cy, water codes, and strategies at the federal level.
Some additional components of the water programme include building
federal and regional institutional capacity for the design and implementation
of small-scale irrigation and water resources development projects, including
water supply and sanitation, and strengthening the dissemination of meteor-
ological information and hydrological services for Ethiopia. Strengthening
national capacities to cope with crisis, including shortage of rainfall, cyclical
drought and famine through the design and implementation of early warning
systems, pre-disaster planning and prevention strategies, may help to allevi-
ate poverty and promote food security, key policy objectives of the govem-
ment, UN agencies and international financial institutions. To suppon these
programme activities UNDP has allocated US$ 7.5 million.'86
The European Union recognises that the human and material costs of vio-
lent conflict undermine efforts to foster sustainable development and the need
to support programmes to address the root causes of violent conflict. In addi-
tion, a shift can been seen in European Union peace-building and conflict pre-
vention policies, which now focus upon democratisation, human rights and
other projects that aim to reduce inequality. However, their policies have not
been backed by the necessary shifts in resources to programme-level suppon
and, in fact, there is a tendency to continue and often increase suppon to large-
scale infrastructure projects. However, large-scale infrastructure projects rarely