Introduction

Statebuilding and the specific challenges facing fragile and conflictaffected states (FCAS) are moving up the international agenda with the signing of the New Deal on International Engagement in Fragile States in Busan in December 2011 and publication of the World Bank’s 2011 World Development Report, Conflict, Security and Development. The OECDDAC International Network on Conflict and Fragility (OECD-INCAF) has produced extensive policy guidance, the 2011 Supporting Statebuilding in Situations of Conflict and Fragility, that has been adopted by most donors and reflects the current international thinking on statebuilding. This guidance recognises the political nature of statebuilding, and in particular the importance of paying greater attention to the complex power dynamics in these settings. However, the guidance did not address how to integrate a gender perspective across these issues and the role that gender inequalities and identities play in shaping the statebuilding process.