Too often, the international response to fragility is to rely on approaches tried and tested in countries that already enjoy strong governance and robust institutions. But such ‘business as usual’ tactics may not always work well in fragile contexts.

Our work

The g7+ group represents fragile and conflict-affected states that have joined together to make their voice heard in international debates. At the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea in November 2011, the group called for a ‘New Deal’ for fragile states, with ODI’s Budget Strengthening Initiative (BSI) providing catalytic research and support to the g7+ before, during and after Busan. Our support has ranged from the public event where the g7+ group made their call for a New Deal in October 2011, to direct support for the g7+ Secretariat in Timor-Leste since spring 2011. BSI is already working in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and South Sudan – pilot countries for the New Deal. In South Sudan BSI has helped to develop a revised aid strategy and a funding mechanism for faster delivery of infrastructure projects. Our Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) has provided expert commentary and analysis on the creation of the State of South Sudan and has informed policy-making fora such as the International Development Committee, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the US State Department and various UN bodies, non-governmental organisationss and donor agencies.
The Politics and Governance Programme (PoGo) leads our work on governance transitions, with a particular focus on finding solutions that work for improving the delivery of services and public goods in a fragile context.

The Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium (SLRC) is a six-year global research programme launched in 2011 to explore livelihoods, basic services and social protection in conflict-affected countries and the links between these and state-building. SLRC will start from the viewpoint of poor people, asking which aid interventions or government policies and programmes make a difference to their lives. Focusing on seven countries – Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nepal, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sri Lanka and Uganda – the SLRC will review the governance structures that both support and undermine people’s livelihoods. ODI is the lead organisation in the SLRC, working with the Centre for Poverty Analysis in Sri Lanka; Feinstein International Center; the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit; the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Pakistan; Disaster Studies of Wageningen University in the Netherlands; the Nepal Centre for Contemporary Research); and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.