See publications relating to: Conflict Prevention - Fragile States

Links:

• Department for International Development (DFID) - Home
  • Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative - Home
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office - Home
  • Global conflict prevention pools
• Post Conflict Reconstruction Unit - Home
• Prime Minister's Strategy Unit - Countries at Risk of Instability programme
  • Report: Investing in Prevention: an international strategy to manage risks of instability and improve crisis response (February 2005)
• Commission for Africa - peace and security
  • Report: Our Common Interest (March 2005)

Publications:

Policy paper: Why we need to work more effectively in fragile states (January 2005)

Policy paper: Fighting poverty to build a safer world: a strategy for security and development (March 2005)

Conflict Prevention

Understanding conflict prevention and peace-building:

• Conducting Conflict Assessments: Guidance Notes (2002) 

Governance and participation:

• Helping Parliaments and Legislative Assemblies to Work for the Poor (2004)
• Making Government Work for Poor People - building state capacity (2001)
• Promoting Institutional & Organisational Development (2003)
• The media in governance:a guide to assistance (2001)
• Elections and the Electoral Process (1998)

Security system reform (including justice):

• Understanding and supporting security sector reform (2002)
• Safety, security and accessible justice: Putting policy into practice (2002)
• DFID Briefing Note on Non-state Justice and Security Systems (2004)
• UK Policy and Strategic Priorities on Small Arms and Light Weapons 2004-2006 (2004)

see also:

• Security Sector Development Advisory Team in the Ministry of Defence
• The Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform (GFN-SSR)
• Work commissioned on indicators to measure progress toward safety and justice from the Vera Institute for Justice. 

Environment, conflict and peace:

• Tackling Illegal Logging: The UK's Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) Programme (2005)
• see also the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights

Fragile States:

Defining difficult partnerships or fragile states:

• Defining Difficult Environments for Poverty Reduction (DFID, 2004) -  This paper summarises some of the main definitions that have been used to describe 'difficult partnerships', 'weak and failing states', and similar categories.  It argues that institutional capacity and political will are central features of most definitions, and useful for understanding what degree of 'stateness' is required for poverty reduction partnerships.

 Service delivery in fragile states:

• Community-based approaches and service delivery: Issues and options in difficult environments and partnerships (DFID - February 2005) - This background paper was prepared for DFID Sudan Desk starting in Dec 2004. The paper focuses on the relationship between community-based approaches and service delivery. It draws together general lessons from international experience of relevance to ongoing discussions in Sudan.
• Models for Service Delivery in Conflict-affected Environments (2005)
  Draws the conceptual and practical lessons from the IRC Ushirika/GBV partnership programmes in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The study also compares the IRC approach with other approaches by Women for Women International, Food for the Hungry International, CARE-CAP, Christian Aid, and Malteser.
• Service Delivery in Countries Emerging from Conflict (2005)
  Examines service delivery in countries emerging from conflict, looking both at the strategic role of service delivery in promoting social and political pro-poor change towards the avoidance of future  conflict and appropriate and sustainable service delivery systems in countries emerging from  conflict.
• Improving the Development Response in Difficult Environments: Lessons from DFID Experience (2004)
  Brings together a collection of ten case studies, from DFID programmes, that have had an impact in fragile states. They show that in these instances aid can work even in poor policy environments.
• Service Delivery in a Difficult Environment: The Child-friendly Community Initiative in Sudan (2005)
  Examines the effectiveness of an integrated, multi-sectoral and community-driven approach for the delivery of basic services to poor and vulnerable people in a conflict-affected country. Should be of use to sectoral advisers and programme managers who are working to develop programmes in conflict affected areas.
• Approaches to Improving the Delivery of Social Services in Difficult Environments (DFID, 2004) - This paper examines ways that donors use to deliver services such as healthcare and education in areas where a partnership with the government is difficult to establish.  The possibilities for scaling up service delivery through non-state providers while supporting the development of effective state structures are explored.

Other relevant documents:

• Aid Instruments in Fragile States (DFID, 2005) - This draft paper for consultation argues that we need an improved approach to the selection of aid instruments in fragile states based on promising experiences in many different contexts.
• Why We Need to Work More Effectively in Fragile States (2005)
  DFID’s policy paper on fragile states
• How Important Are Difficult Environments to Achieving the MDGs? (DFID, 2004) - This paper examines three different attempts to categorise states as fragile, and on the basis of a common list, quantifies the importance of fragile states for each Millennium Development Goal.  The headline message is that fragile states are estimated to contain 28-35% of all people on less than $1 per day, as well as 41-51% of all children dying before the age of 5, although these states contain only 16% of the population in developing countries.