Donor Engagment in Fragile states, a new report by IPIS

A new publication by IPIS presents a case study of donors in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the OECD Principles for Good International Engagement in Fragile States.

Fragile states are a global concern. Poor governance, lack of services to the population and an absence of institutions is not just a problem for the state itself, but the effects are felt in neighboring countries as well as countries half way around the world. Donor organizations are grappling with the dilemma of how to best engage in fragile states and are trying to solve where funding may show the best results.

The report shows that donors want to keep to the voluntary guidlines set out by organisastions and institues like the OECD and EITI, but do so by their own interpretation. Internal adjustment and change towards better engagment and social responsibility is often very slow and difficult. Moreover donors are often political actors that do not want to harm themselves, and there is often a clash between the political and the technical ideoligies. What is wanted, is not always attainable. The Principles are a good attempt at organizing donors to strive for the same positive effects of engaging in fragile states. However, they are also very broad and leave much space for interpretation.

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