The modern concept of “development aid” first coalesced at the end of World War II when the primary focus was on resettling millions of displaced persons and rebuilding destroyed infrastructure, but it has since shifted towards a goal of lifting people out of poverty and modernizing economies so that everyone can benefit from participating in global markets.
However, providing assistance to regions that suffer from ongoing conflicts or to fragile states comes with a number of challenges. Despite this, addressing these are of paramount importance when delivering development aid, particularly because fragility and conflict are often the root causes of poverty around the world.
Although the opportunities for providing aid in fragile states and strife-torn regions of the world may be difficult to realize, successfully addressing the needs of vulnerable populations can lead the way to long-term stability, economic growth, poverty reduction, and improved living conditions of the world’s most vulnerable populations.
Understanding fragile and conflict-affected states
A fragile state is a sovereign nation that is characterized by limited state legitimacy and reach. The World Bank’s definition of a “fragile state” requires that the country be eligible for development assistance, has had a UN peacekeeping mission active on its territory in the last three years, and has a Country Police and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) governance score of 3.2 or less.
According to the OECD, there were 1.9 billion people living in fragile states in 2022, accounting for one-quarter (24%) of the planet’s population and three-quarters (73%) of the world’s extreme poor. According to the Fragile States Index, only around 65 countries out of over 190 are classified as “stable” or better while the vast majority of nations are classified as fragile or in danger of becoming unstable.
Add in regions of the world that are currently under threat from active conflicts, and it quickly becomes clear that the majority of people on the planet live in areas where their human rights are under threat and where access to basic needs such as clean water, nutritious food, education, safety, and healthcare go unmet.
Under ideal circumstances, development aid has the potential to catalyze positive change by providing much-needed resources from wealthier, developed countries in order to build essential infrastructure, provide education and healthcare, improve access to clean water, and craft sustainable agricultural practices that can foster stability and peace while simultaneously addressing the root causes of the conflict, instability, and poverty in developing nations.
However, in practice, over the past 75 years, foreign assistance to fragile states and conflict-affected areas has only achieved limited success despite trillions of dollars’ worth of spending across thousands of development projects and investments.
Challenges in providing development aid to fragile and conflict-affected states
The challenges involved in providing development aid to fragile states and conflict-affected regions are so daunting as to often be nearly insurmountable. They include:
- Political challenges – This includes both domestic opposition to foreign aid spending and/or programs as well as political instability, excessive bureaucracy, and other political obstacles present in the recipient nation
- Sovereignty and political sensitivities – Donors must walk a fine line to avoid adopting a paternalistic or colonial-era attitude towards recipient nations, while recipient countries often have cultural, religious, and social differences with the donor nation.
- Corruption and governance issues – Navigating different cultures, customs, bureaucratic procedures, and laws opens the door to corruption and poor governance issues both on the part of the donor as well as the recipient nation.
- Security challenges – Often, the neediest populations reside in areas beset with security challenges, which can make delivering development aid and projects extremely difficult to implement.
- Safety of aid workers – Fragile and conflict-affected states often struggle to provide a safe environment for their own citizens, and aid workers from or working with foreign donors can be particularly vulnerable.
- Economic challenges – Sometimes, even the most heartfelt attempts to deliver development aid (such as emergency food relief) can disrupt local and regional economies, thus increasing the recipient nation’s fragility. Other factors such as monetary instability or inflation can also be exacerbated by the insertion of funding or investments.
- Lack of infrastructure – Simply put, a lack of reliable roads, ports, and other transportation infrastructure can severely hamper efforts to provide development aid, particularly in war-torn or deeply impoverished areas. These challenges can also be compounded by a lack of basic services such as electricity, internet connectivity, and/or access to potable water.
In short, the same factors that serve to promote ongoing conflicts and the lack of stable governance (corruption, politics) also make it extremely challenging for foreign donors to work with recipient governments to deliver and implement development aid, investment, and projects.
Nonetheless, despite these overwhelming obstacles, there have been historical examples of successful development aid projects in fragile and conflict-affected states. For example, the southeast Asian nation of Cambodia, which was torn apart by a brutal civil war between 1974 and 1979, has since successfully transformed into a stable, peaceful country under the autocratic rule of the Hun family.
As a result, Cambodia’s government was able to work with foreign donors, NGOs, and charitable organizations to pursue extensive demining programs to clear up the estimated ten million landmines, bombs, and other forms of unexploded ordnance (UXO) left behind after the war. Thanks to close cooperation with international donors and organizations, Cambodia has successfully cleared more than 1 million square meters of its territory and destroyed more than 542,000 individual mines and unexploded bombs since 1992, and the country expects to be completely mine-free by 2025.
The case of Cambodia healing from the ravages of war as well as other examples from around the world demonstrate that foreign aid can play a vital role in improving stability, combating poverty, and achieving economic growth in states that are currently rated as fragile and/or are embroiled in conflict.
