2 August 2013: In the latest issue of ‘Our Perspective,’ Jordan Ryan, Director of the UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR), calls for the post-2015 development agenda to recognize the changing nature of violent conflict. Addressing armed violence as a barrier to development has become a top priority, he notes.

Ryan describes a shift from “traditional” interstate wars to internal clashes, gang violence and violent crime. He argues that this violence “stunts efforts to lift people out of poverty, scars communities and makes women and girls more vulnerable to abuse.”

The shift creates several needs: new institutions to deal with street gangs, arms trafficking and gender-based violence; protection for citizens; justice; national capacity to address livelihoods, reconciliation, social exclusion, security and the rule of law; predictive and early warning systems; national capacity for reconciliation; and a “modified approach to peace-building” that includes women and the vulnerable and addresses underlying causes of conflict. [Our Perspective]