ReCom Position Paper on Aid, Governance and Fragility

Governance, or the exercise and organization of political power to manage a community’s affairs, has become a major concern for both donors and aid recipient countries since the late 1980s. Good governance in particular, which refers to efficient and transparent public sectors, stable and effective institutions, and support for citizen engagement and participation in political processes, is widely seen as an important objective in and of itself, as well as a critical influence on economic development. Fragility is also of key importance. An estimated 1.5 billion people are affected by conflict and fragility and fragile states are furthest away from achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Discussions about the post-2015 agenda further underscore its continuing significance for development policy, including its relevance to other core goals, such as sustainable development, gender equality, and inclusive growth. Addressing both governance and fragility, this position paper is grounded in the central questions of the ReCom programme: What works, what could work, what is scalable, and what is transferable with respect to foreign aid? It also considers the related question, what does not work? It draws on over a hundred background papers prepared under this research theme and commissioned with attention to identified gaps in the literature.

It has four central messages:

Governance and fragility are two sides of the same coin

From macro-level to meso- and micro-level analysis: Disaggregation is essential

Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation: The new ‘best practice’

Building state capability remains a core challenge