Fragile states

Case studies and success stories

This page lists selected case studies detailing interventions in states that could be described as fragile.

Page contents

Where is a good place to start?

Department for International Development, 2004, 'Improving the Development Response in Difficult Environments: Lessons from DFID Experience', PRDE team working paper 4, DFID, London
How can aid programmes have an impact in fragile states? This working paper by the Department for International Developments; Fragile States Team analyses ten case studies from the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Burma, Indonesia, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. It concludes that aid can work in fragile states, but this requires a long-term approach and an excellent analysis of the local context.
Full text available online

Success stories

The following case studies give details of successful interventions in fragile states. They also consider what conditions are necessary on the ground and what governance reforms aid a transition out of fragility.

World Bank, 2004, 'Making Aid Work in Fragile States: Case Studies of Effective Aid-Financed Programs', World Bank, Washington D.C.
Can donors “do development” in recent post-conflict settings? Can aid achieve sustainable results in a poor governance framework? This background document for the World Bank looks at four programmes that have been successful in war-torn settings. The case studies from Timor-Leste, Northern Uganda, Cambodia, and North-Western Afghanistan are assessed in terms of their poverty reduction and governance impacts. Programmes in poor governance settings need to be adequately resourced, well-led, flexible, draw on local organisational strengths, incorporate capacity building and reconciliation as core features, and effectively manage political factors. The studies show that if these are achieved, development can be done effectively in conflict-riven areas.
Full text available online

Hutchful, E., 2003, Pulling Back from the Brink. Ghana's Experience, in Governing Insecurity, Democratic Control of Military and Security Establishments in Transitional Democracies, Cawthra, G. and Luckham, R. (eds), Zed Books, London
How did Ghana pull itself back from the brink of conflict? What lessons about conflict transformation may be learned from this experience? In answering these questions this chapter from the book Governing Insecurity provides a detailed understanding of the character of the Ghanaian crisis, which sheds light on current conflict prevention policy frameworks.
Full text available via document delivery. Please see document summary.

Service delivery interventions

The following six case studies were produced for DFID by the Health Systems Resource Centre (HSRC).  Additional case studies can be found on the service delivery page of this guide.

• Case study 1: A time series analysis of health service delivery in Afghanistan
• Case study 2: Review of health service delivery in Angola
• Case study 3: Review of the EU intervention in the health sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1994
• Case study 4: Review of small scale educational interventions on literacy and conflict resolution / peace-building in Guinea, Sierra Leone and South Sudan
• Case study 5: The delivery of education services in difficult circumstances: the case of Sri Lanka
• Case study 6: Review of health service delivery in Uganda - general country experience and Northern Uganda

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