Breaking the cycle of conflict, hunger and human suffering

The accounts shared in this report highlight the destructive and complex consequences of conflict in its many forms. These include direct experiences of violence and its devastating impact on displacement and food security, alongside more indirect, detrimental effects on community resilience, cohesion, and gendered social relations.

These accounts lead to three conclusions, common to both hunger and displacement, and reflecting the harsh realities and enormous challenges faced by communities in conflict-affected contexts around the world:

1. Conflict’s reach goes far beyond the scope of physical violence alone, transforming (and often destroying) economies, social networks, and household support systems far from the frontlines.
2. Conflict is gendered: it affects women, men, youth and people from vulnerable groups in starkly different ways that often reinforce existing inequities.
3. Conflict’s legacy lasts much longer than violence alone, affecting the likelihood of return and the success of reintegration and reconciliation long after stability is re‑established.

This publication covers aid activities implemented with the financial assistance of Irish Aid. The ideas, opinions and comments therein are entirely the responsibility of its author(s) and do not necessarily represent or reflect Irish Aid policy.