Conflict, violence and human rights violations: these are among the main challenges to combating poverty and fragility in the wider sense. The fragility of a state is characterised by the government’s inability to ensure the security of the population and provide basic public services, alongside its failure to establish mutually constructive relations with the country’s citizens.
More than 40 countries around the globe, home to some 1.5 billion people, are affected by fragile situations or exposed to violence or conflict. By 2030, more than 80% of the world’s poorest could be living in fragile contexts unless more concerted action is taken now.
Fragility poses a major threat to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Addressing fragility will require greater acceptance of all its nuances by tailoring differentiated approaches to specific contexts and working across the full spectrum of issues, some of which are inherently difficult and sensitive.
SDC is stepping up its efforts to prevent and manage the consequences of crises, disasters and fragility. It intends to allocate 50% of its bilateral aid to conflict-affected or fragile contexts. (see link on the right side).
In this context the IED Team, with the support of the IED Core Group, reflected on how to maximise impact and reduce fragility through the promotion of inlclusive economic development programmes and private sector engagement.
Webinar / Slide Deck on IED in fragile contexts
The IED Expert Team developed a slide deck that aims at providing support and guidance to IED projects working in fragile contexts. The slide deck fosters a common understanding on fragility and its relevance for SDC’s IED projects. The documents is complemented with examples of best practices and the FAQs in fragile contexts.
In April 2021 two webinars took place to present the slide decks to a wider public. The aim was to give colleagues a chance to raise their concerns and exchange with peers on good practices and challenges in quest of maximising impact on reducing fragility through IED (see video below).
