Issue 32 : Fragile states

Dilemmas and directions

29 October 2010

How can donors and their partners support sustainable capacity development in fragile states? This article addresses key issues and dilemmas that members of the international community confront in answering this question.

Search Terms:

analytical frameworks

policy

state-building

Ownership matters

29 October 2010

After more than 17 years of internal conflict, Mozambique was littered with thousands of landmines. This article describes how locally recruited deminers contributed to local ownership and the state’s legitimacy.

Search Terms:

casestudies

africa

Rebuilding Liberia

29 October 2010

The Liberian government faces the challenge of stabilising and rebuilding the nation after two civil wars. Capacity.org interviewed Dr Toga McIntosh, Liberia’s Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs.

Search Terms:

casestudies

africa

Parallel service delivery in a fragile state

29 October 2010

During Haiti’s 200 years of independence it has remained an extremely weak state, characterised by the absence of functional institutions. Recent political developments raise the issue of the impact of parallel service delivery on the emerging state structure.

Search Terms:

humanitarian sector

casestudies

policy

Developing economic stabilization

29 October 2010

The reconstruction of fiscal institutions can contribute to macroeconomic stabilization and create a conducive environment for further institution building.

Search Terms:

policy

state-building

Credible elections in Sierra Leone

29 October 2010

Civil society organisations have a very important contribution to make in the process of transforming fragile states into peaceful and stable nations. Frances Fortune and Ambrose James describe the experiences of Sierra Leone during past elections.

Search Terms:

casestudies

civil society

africa

The Challenge of Capacity Development: Working Towards Good Practice

29 October 2010

OECD GovNet, 22 March 2006. Development efforts in many of the poorest countries will fail, even if they are supported with substantially increased funding, if the development of sustainable capacity is not given greater and more careful attention. This paper outlines an ambitious agenda – and some important changes in behaviour – for the entire development community. Development partners made detailed commitments in the Paris Declaration, yet international donors have a long way to go in defining how these promises will translate into concrete action on the ground. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/4/36/36326495.pdf

Accountability builds legitimate government

29 October 2010

Strengthening the accountability of government officials to their constituents provides an important impetus to boosting their capacity to govern effectively. However, as examples from Iraq and Indonesia show, the legitimacy of the government is an important criterion for success.

Search Terms:

civil society

casestudies

dialogue

state-building

Capacity development in fragile environments

29 May 2010

The concept of the ‘fragile state’ entered the development discourse when, in the early 1990s, governance in Somalia disintegrated. Thousands of people fell victim to violence and millions faced starvation. Fragile states, however, were not given much attention in development policies. Donor countries concentrated their aid on fewer countries, particularly on those with good governance.