Resource Flows to Fragile States

One sixth of the world's population lives in fragile states, countries faced with disproportionate levels of poverty and instability, whose citizens struggle to meet basic needs.

The OECD monitors resource flows to fragile states in an effort to help inform donor decisions and increase transparency and co-ordination. In 2006, donors have responded to the challenges posed by fragile states with more aid (USD 26.8 billion) but 75 percent of this aid benefitted just five countries: Nigeria, Afghanistan, Sudan, DRC and Cameroon, and half of it is debt relief. The 2007 exercise identified three types of countries requiring special attention: (i) Countries receiving less aid than would be predicted given their high level of need, compared to countries with similar policy and institutional performance ratings; (ii) Countries with high level of need and weak governance or low capacity; (iii) Countries with access to only one, two, or three key bilateral donors.

Recognizing that aid is only part of the picture, the OECD also tracks non-aid flows to fragile states such as security-related expenditures; domestic revenues, including from natural resources; remittances and foreign direct investment.

Click here for the 2007 Report

See also:

Monitoring Resource Flows to Fragile States, 2006 Fact Sheet 

Monitoring Resource Flows to Fragile States, 2006 Report  

Monitoring Resource Flows to Fragile States, 2006 Report, statistical annex

Monitoring Resource Flows to Fragile States, 2005 Report

Other Background documents

• Aid Allocation and Fragile States (Mark McGillivray, 2005)
  This paper summarises research on aid allocation and effectiveness, highlighting the current findings of the studies below.  It looks at how aid should and is being allocated across all developing countries, with particular reference to fragile states.
• The Forgotten States: Aid Volumes and Volatility in Difficult Partnership Countries (1992-2002), (Victoria Levin and David Dollar, 2005). Note: this document is 3.6 MB and in MS Word format.
  This paper summarises the findings of data analysis on aid allocations to difficult partnerships.  It provides information on aid flows and their level of volatility.
• Aid Allocation Criteria: Managing for Development Results and Difficult Partnerships (OPM, 2005).
  This report describes the different factors that donors take into account when determining their allocations of aid to countries, with a special focus on those that do not achieve “good performer” status.
• Development Effectiveness in Fragile States: Spillovers and Turnarounds (Lisa Chauvet, Paul Collier, 2005)
  This paper attempts to quantify some neglected potential effects of aid, thereby improving overall guidance on aid effectiveness. It is thus in the tradition of the research on ‘poverty efficient’ uses of aid (Collier and Dollar, 2002).