Foreword

The OECD’s Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD) has produced Fragile States reports since 2005. These reports explore trends and financial resource flows in fragile and conflict-affected states and economies. They respond to increasing concerns about the implications of fragility for stability and development, especially in the context of Agenda 2030 and the international promise to leave no one behind. The OECD remains one of only a handful of sources of aggregate data and analysis for fragile contexts as a group. In line with the new, multidimensional concept of fragility that began with the 2015 report, the OECD’s annual publications are now referred to as States of Fragility.

The purpose of this series is to provide compelling evidence that can inform donor policies and underpin international debates. By doing so, the reports seek to ensure that issues driving fragility remain high on the international development agenda, while supporting better policy to drive better results where they count most: on the ground.

The States of Fragility series also seeks to shed light on a different key aspect of fragility every year. This year, States of Fragility 2016: Understanding Violence takes a long hard look at violence in the world – and what we should do about it. In line with the aims of the series, this report showcases emerging thinking about violence, presents a new risk-based approach to monitoring various dimensions of fragility, and looks at financial flows in support of fragile contexts.

In terms of process, the report combines research by leading specialists in violence and fragility with inputs from members of the International Network on Conflict and Fragility (INCAF) and the wider fragility policy community. As part of this consultative process, in late 2015, the OECD held a series of expert workshops to refine its fragility framework. The workshops were held in Berlin on 15 October, in Abidjan on 19 October, in Washington, DC on 23 November, and in Paris on 16 December. INCAF members provided further inputs on the fragility framework at the meeting of their Knowledge and Policy Task Team on 22 January 2016, and feedback received at the World Bank’s Fragility, Conflict and Violence Forum in March 2016 was also integrated. In parallel to this, the OECD hosted a series of blog posts from leading experts about measuring fragility, available at http://g4dpblog.blogspot.fr The findings and recommendations related to violence were refined after the inputs of a range of experts and INCAF members at a meeting of their Task Teams on 27 June 2016. The overall research project was guided by a reference group made up of academic experts and practitioners in the fragility field.

With regard to the data used in the current volume, this report draws on 2014 official development assistance data, the latest available data at the time of writing. All amounts referring to 2014 are denoted in current 2014 USD, unless specified otherwise. For time series, constant 2014 USD prices are used. Figures reflect OECD statistics unless indicated otherwise. Further, data on concessional flows reflect the different donor interpretations and OECD-DAC adjustments, as explained at: www.oecd.org/dac/stats/concessionality-note.htm.