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On 27 April, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, OECD and the World Bank co-hosted an international conference in The Hague to formulate practical recommendations for policy implementation and programming by international and national actors in conflict-affected and fragile situations.

The meeting was also an occasion to present the recently released World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security and Development. In his remarks, DCD Deputy Director Stephen Groff stressed, pointing to examples from the OECD-DAC Policy Guidance on Supporting Statebuilding in Situations of Conflict and Fragility, three things that can be done to improve international action in conflict-affected situations:

• First, donors must view the world differently insofar as it concerns conflict and fragility. In short, donors must use and apply a state building perspective if international engagement is to be effective.
• Second, donors need to accept that engaging in fragile states presents great risks but holds the potential of achieving significant results. The international community needs to tailor approaches and working methods to the challenges of fragile states, be realistic in how they define results, and take more short-term risks in a managed fashion.
• Finally, donors need to build much better partnerships, mainly with the south. The International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding offers a critical opportunity to do so.

For more information on this conference, please see the reference documents below:

• Conference Agenda (.pdf, 129kb)
• Remarks delivered by DCD Deputy Director Stephen Groff (.pdf, 36kb)
• PowerPoint presentation (.ppt, 655kb)