Fragility & Systems Change

 
Fragility & Systems Change

​The focus of the input of Markus Heiniger (see presentation) was on one hand to give a clearer picture of the outline of fragile contexts, what are the multilateral response mechanisms for dealing with fragility in the context of development cooperation and how working in fragile and conflict affected situations has changed and is changing in SDC's work. Diane Johnson (see presentation) highlighted the market systems development approach and the differences and challenges of working in fragile contexts as well as the framework to link relief, recovery and development.

The discussion showed that fragility is a complex issue and its understanding and definition varies widely between and within contexts. Different countries feature different kinds of fragility.

Dimensions of fragility and conflict can be main obstacles to sustainable development. The e+i sectors may play an important role in fragile states because they can contribute to state and peace building as well as social and economic progress and therefore reduce fragility and stabilise the country.

Hence, for development agencies like SDC, applying a fragility lens is important as fragility affects vulnerable and poor populations most and has an impact on development cooperation. For SDC it is more and more important being aware of the specific challenges of working in fragile and conflict 

affected situations as the Message 2013-2016 emphasises on engage more in such contexts. A thorough analysis is critical to understand the constraints and causes of fragility and the market systems operating in fragile situations. In this context, it is crucial to understand the power dynamics (why does a specific actor have the power? What are the reasons? What functions could this player take over that has a benefit for the target group / project) and to follow do no harm principles. To get to know the causes of fragility there are different tools for different situations but not yet one tool combining all different dimensions. Hence, there is a strong need for an integrated tool.

Among the participants there is a common understanding that context analysis and fragility assessment are critical to understand the underlying issues and to identify causes to be able to overcome these. Nonetheless, there is still a need to narrow down the term fragility and to develop an integrated fragility assessment tool to integrate this analysis sustainably into the project design.