engaging fragile states - Woodrow Wilson International Center for ...

duce concrete progress in furthering the peace process, this kind of engagement
requires the involvement of both diplomatic practitioners and trainers. Diplomats
assigned to a country by donor governments and multilateral institutions can help
to establish the core importance of conducting this type of approach. They also
can help to identify the other ingredients and sequencing that needs to be part of
the peace process for each country. Unfortunately, although diplomats can provide
access to national leaders and can comprehend the regional environment, they are
not trained in the techniques and skills of institutional or conflict transformation,
nor often, even in mediation or negotiation skills. Trainers, on the other hand, are
more focused on small-group team-building rather than the wider turf wars and
other political challenges of transforming a dysfunctional system into an effective
state. They have the skills but seldom have ready access to national leaders or influence
over the political dynamics of the society. Consequently, what is required for
moving forward is to build a new synergy between diplomats and trainers in the
application of more holistic peace and development strategies.
Building State Capacities for Governance
Another key deficit in fragile states is their limited capacity to provide basic
services such as health, education, and justice, as well as security. As indicated
above, making such services available is an early imperative in postconflict
situations.
How Can Governments’ Delivery of
Basic Services Be Strengthened? 19
Valuable analysis on how to improve basic services in fragile states was produced
recently by a multi-donor committee called the Fragile States Group under the
Development Assistance Committee of the OECD. The World Bank’s World
Development Report of 2004 focused on service delivery for the poor, but much of
it concerned the better performing, more stable developing countries. At about the
same time, many donors were issuing their initial policy papers on the problem
of state fragility in particular, in which they argued that fragile state situations
needed to be treated differently from more conventional settings for development.
Consequently, the World Bank report raised the question for many donors of how
service delivery needed to be approached differently in countries characterized by
fragility and instability, not only in more favorable environments for development.
Responding to Fragile States: Lessons From Recent Experience | 67