SPECIFICS OF PROVIDING

ASSISTANCE TO FRAGILE
STATES
• Fragile states definitions :
1) weak governance and conflicts are the pivotal development
challenges and obstacles to achieving the MDGs;
2) state-building and peace-building are the keys to
overcoming fragility;
3) traditional mechanisms of aid delivery do not work in
fragile states; that is why innovative approaches are needed
• A fragile region or state (OECD, 2012)
• 1) has weak capacity to carry out basic governance functions,
2) lacks the ability to develop mutually constructive relations
with society.
• 3) more vulnerable to internal or external shocks such as
economic crises or natural disasters.
• 4) More resilient states exhibit the capacity and legitimacy of
governing a population and its territory  They can manage
and adapt to changing social needs and expectations, shifts in
elite and other political agreements, and growing institutional
complexity.
• The most well-known are the typologies of the OECD-
DAC and the World Bank. These organizations identify
four types of fragile contexts:
• 1) Post-conflict (post-crisis) or political transition
situations;
• 2) Deteriorating governance environments;
• 3) Gradual improvement; and
• 4) Prolonged crisis or impasse.
• Problem : weak states were sources of transnational threats
•
WHY DOES TOC SPREAD INTO FRAGILE
AND POST-CONFLICT STATES
1. Global criminal expansion
Opportunities provided by the infrastructure of the global
economy .
The flexibility and speed of commerce,
the diversification of trading routes and the ease of electronic
communication pose huge obstacles to efforts to strengthen
border security and control criminal activity.
Innovations such as the shipping container, or the rise of
international cash transfer firms, have played crucial roles in
assisting the growth of a global illicit economy (Levinson,
2006).
2. Institutional fragmentation
•High levels of institutional fragmentation : security forces and
between the central and local levels of the state,
•The transition to competitive electoral democracy  politicians
and other power-holders vie for access to the additional resources
provided by criminal activity.
3. Social fragmentation
the interpersonal bonds linking people from different social
groups or ethnicities – is in short supply (Putnam, 2000). As
a result, community control and oversight over the
behaviour of security forces, state officials and other citizens
are weak.
Relations based on kinship or a shared ethnic background
have long been found to play an important role in the
creation of criminal organisations, in large part due to the
ways they provide bonds of trust and a shared language.
• Inequality and a poorly-functioning state
• TOC may gain public legitimacy and popular support by
acting as a substitute state, providing employment and basic
public goods such as protection.
FACTS OF ASSISTANCE TO
FRAGILE STATES
FACT #1 : POVERTY IN FRAGILE STATES
(OECD,2013)
 FACT #1 :
PROVIDERS OF DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION
TO FRAGILE STATES
(OECD, 2013)
 FACT #2 :
TOP 10 RECIPIENTS OF OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT
ASSISTANCE (ODA) TO FRAGILE STATES
(OECD, 2013)
FACT #3 : TYPES OF AID
(OECD,2013)
FACT #4 : AID DEPENDENCY ON
FRAGILE STATES
(OECD,2013)
FACT #5 : ODA ALLOCATIONS TO
FOREIGN AID
(OECD,2013)
 EVOLUTION OF BASIC PRINCIPLES OF
ENGAGEMENT IN FRAGILE STATES
• Risks with which any donor has to deal
• (1) the potential for an aid program to fail to achieve its
objectives; and
• (2) the potential for the program to cause harm in the external
environment.
• (3) institutional risks, including operational security, financial
and fiduciary, and reputational
 STANDARD APPROACH

• 1) providing less money;

• 2) an orientation toward project financing;
• 3) making shorter time commitments;
• 4) engaging in a narrower set of activities;
• 5) distributing aid through NGOs (and bypassing the
state); and
• 6) providing humanitarian aid with only later making a
subsequent shift towards development aid. This approach
was revisited and reconsidered only in the mid2000s
• The implementation of such an approach caused a higher
volatility and fragmentation of aid to difficult partners,
• increased pressure on already weak institutions, and
• often exacerbated the problems that they were confronting.