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States are fragile when governments and state structures lack capacity and/or political will to deliver safety and security, good governance, and poverty reduction to their citizens. Establishing and maintaining a functioning and legitimate state is therefore central in fragile contexts.
The DAC Principles for Good International Engagement in Fragile States and Situations reflect a growing consensus that a focus on state-building may be required in parallel to the objective of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and as a response to state fragility.
As set out in principle 3 ”international engagement will need to be concerted, sustained, and focused on building the relationship between state and society, through engagement in two main areas. Firstly, supporting the legitimacy and accountability of states by addressing issues of democratic governance, human rights, civil society engagement and peacebuilding. Secondly, strengthening the capability of states to fulfil their core functions is essential in order to reduce poverty.”
To deepen understanding of what state-building means in fragile contexts and share best practices on how best to support harmonised state-building efforts, FSG has launched a workstream on state-building for 2007-2008. In a first phase this will involve preparing a framing paper and a regional event with national reformers in fragile states. The second phase will focus on case studies, best practice, lessons learned, and recommendations to DAC members.
This work builds on prior work of the FSG on service delivery in fragile states.
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