Cerno Thames Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)7798 816169 | Email: kevin.churchill@cernothames.com
Our Approach to Managing Community-Partner Conflict
Disputes can arise over land access, land ownership, community displacement, resettlement concerns, local employment opportunities, access to natural resources, cultural sensitivities, community and labour co-living, or perceptions of who benefits and who bears the costs. Tensions between traditional authorities and government processes are common.
If left unaddressed, these conflicts can stall progress, increase costs, and most significantly, erode community trust.
Left unmanaged, these tensions can delay timelines, escalate costs, or even derail a development project entirely, undermining both trust and impact.
At their core, successful infrastructure projects in East Africa are not about concrete and steel, or building roads, border posts, bridges or power lines. They’re about building trust.
By integrating conflict management and resolution into project design and delivery, national governments, development partners, and NGOs can unlock smoother implementation, reduced risk, and more sustainable outcomes for all.
Why work with us to Manage Community-Partner Conflict?
Tap into Expertise
Tap into a wealth of knowledge and experience of working in international development in East Africa.
Tailored for You
Our support is tailored to your development project in your East African community.
Facilitate Dialogue
We'll help facilitate dialogue between diverse groups, helping stakeholders surface underlying concerns, negotiate shared outcomes, and re-establish cooperation essential for project success.
Practical Action Plans
We go beyond just strategising – we assist in implementing the plan, ensuring you take the necessary steps towards conflict resolution.
Cultural Awareness
We''ll help integrate conflict sensitivity, community engagement, and cultural awareness into every stage of project design and implementation.
Strengthening Local
Capacity
Working with community leaders, field teams, and partner organisations, to build capacity.
I called Kevin during a difficult conflict situation I was trying to resolve in my international team at work, and we worked together over several sessions on finding a way through it and handling all the different people. I saved hours of worry and stress, and so did the co-workers involved. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Kevin for coaching or workplace mediation’.
Senior Director, International Health organisation, Nairobi, Kenya. Spring 2023.
Turning Challenges into Opportunities
Across East Africa, national governments, development partners and NGO’s are driving transformative infrastructure; roads that connect traders and markets to cities and to ports, one-stop border posts that enable trade along corridors, renewable energy projects that light up off-grid communities, and water systems that improve health outcomes.
Infrastructure and construction projetcs are transformative. They are designed to bring long-term benefits, yet, many national governments, development partners and NGO’s face an often-overlooked challenge: conflict between communities and implementing partners.