Abstract: "This report, originally commissioned as a background paper by IDRC for a consultative meeting addressing conflict prevention and development practice, aims to provide a critical overview of the approaches to development being defined by donors, academic institutions, as well as NGOs and agencies charged with the delivery of effective aid and development programmes in conflict-prone and conflict-affected areas. Governmental and non-governmental actors alike increasingly recognise the need for conflict-sensitive approaches to development and humanitarian assistance and are consequently attempting to develop the theoretical underpinnings as well as the structural prerequisites for integrating conflict-sensitive perspectives into development assistance. The paper seeks to highlight the range of different approaches and to identify both their strengths and limitations. It concludes by proposing some of the important policy issues which need to be addressed if conflictsensitive development approaches are to have broader relevance and impact."