• Capacity building
• Good governance
• Security sector reform

Capacity building

This paper examines the tasks and challenges of restoring effective governance in crisis and post-conflict countries. It explores the functions and roles of governments in conflicted societies and the approaches to assistance that have been used by international organisations and bilateral donors.

Governments are often weak after violent hostilities cease, so post-conflict countries need immediate and substantial assistance in restoring governance as well as economic and political reconstruction. International assistance organisations have become crucial in helping governments increase their capacity to perform essential functions in the early and transitional stages of post-conflict recovery.

The paper discusses a number of important lessons learned from past experience including the following; 

•  as the challenges facing crisis and post-conflict countries are complex and varied, governments and international organisations can rarely, if ever, rely on universally-applicable approaches to restoring governance 
  
•  what can be learned most effectively from experience with restoring governance is how to tailor, adjust, and implement programmes successfully given the differences in conditions and needs in post-conflict countries 
  
•  strengthening government in post-conflict societies requires complex reforms that may take a long time to implement, so initial efforts should focus on strengthening capacities for the most urgent reconstruction functions 
  
•  in those post-conflict countries where governments have weak administrative capacity or lack financial resources, they usually suffer from institutional deficiencies that will require long periods of time to strengthen.
  

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