Working differently in fragile and conflict-affected situations: the ADB experience

One in every four of the world’s people lives in fragile and conflicted settings. This handbook is an Asian-based attempt to encourage new thinking and mainstreaming of innovative engagement in fragile situations.

The paper highlights that:

• fragile and conflict-affected situation (FCAS) countries lag far behind in development
• for development aid to be effective, modes of engagement must be customised to the specific needs and local context of the affected country
• failure to engage in fragile and conflict-affected situations differently and in an innovative manner is likely to entail major human, social, economic, and security costs

The author states that in terms of FCAS, there are common challenges, as well as lessons from how development agencies are already responding to these circumstances.

Lessons include:

• programmatic approach to fragile and conflict-affected situations is needed, yet flexibility is required - significant adjustments during the implementation are likely to exist
• a deeper understanding of the country contexts, longer term commitment to working in with other partners in the country and increasing presence on the ground are critical ingredients for efficiency
• depending on the stage of conflict and fragility, the country strategy may be formulated as a country partnership strategy, an interim operational strategy, a regional strategy, or a watching brief
• in FCAS countries, it is recommended to anticipate potential problems before they occur, thus a security management risk perspective and an evaluation of the full range of risks to which communities are exposed are of great importance
• assessment tools are essential to understand the FCAS setting and to effectively formulate appropriate operational strategies and assistance program development
• in this sense, political economy analysis can contribute to improved prioritisation of reform efforts, and social assessment can help identifying proper assistance delivery approaches

The document also underlines that a national development policy dialogue is totally required.