When disasters occur in a situation where resources are scarce, there is the potential for conflict. These conflicts could arise over assets or livelihood opportunities, such as the lands lost or degraded by a disaster. 

Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) guidelines have been developed to support practitioners who plan and conduct PDNAs. These guidelines consist of two volumes: Volume A provides a general overview of the PDNA concepts, process and procedures, while Volume B contains a set of guidelines for the different sectors and crosscutting issues.

The PDNA needs to be sensitive to any pre-existing social, ethnic or religious divisions within the society and suggest policies and measures that mitigate their effects through recovery, rather than aggravating them. The present publication seeks to adapt the PDNA to conflict-affected contexts and responds to the growing awareness of the linkages between conflicts and disasters.

As conflict sensitivity is a lens that must be applied throughout the PDNA process, this conflict sensitivity guidance provides the national and international experts who conduct PDNAs with practical advice on how to integrate a conflict-sensitive approach into the five key steps of the PDNA. These experts need to understand that the PDNA should be aware of underlying social tensions and conflict issues and that a recovery programme should mitigate these issues.