Overcoming Conflict and Fragility: Strengthening the Role of Data and Analysis in Policy-Making

Fragility and conflict pose immense challenges to sustainable development: about half of the world’s extreme poor live in fragile and conflict-affected settings. One reason for this is the persistence of fragility and conflict: Every other post-conflict country experiences renewed conflict and many become trapped in repeated cycles of violence. To tackle these challenges, this event provided insights into new data and analyses relevant for policy-making aimed at overcoming conflict and fragility. The event presented an exciting opportunity to discuss novel insights from a research project on sustainable peace by the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) and introduced the OECD’s new States of Fragility online platform.

Part 1: Results of the research project “Supporting Sustainable Peace”

The DIE research project “Supporting Sustainable Peace” took a closer look at how countries emerging from civil war can be supported on their paths towards sustainable peace. It was conducted from 2015 to 2018 and financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The project provides novel insights into effective strategies of international peacebuilding support, identifying specific types and combinations of support that are particularly beneficial for sustaining peace. Amongst others, the results indicate that substantial international support to building peace after civil war can help to reduce the risk of recurrence, but only combined international efforts across all types of support can address difficult contexts. Moreover, the project results shed new light on the complex relationship between peace and democratization.

Part 2: Global Launch of the OECD’s States of Fragility Online Platform

Delivering on the Agenda 2030 will require improved approaches and better targeting of development efforts, especially in fragile contexts. This necessitates a better understanding of the underlying causes of fragility and possible solutions, as well as harnessing the ‘data revolution’ for sustainable development. Addressing the issue of data availability, the OECD’s States of Fragility online platform provides a one-stop-shop for data and evidence on all topics related to fragility. It provides information on fragility and its drivers as well as on policy responses and thus promotes both transparency and evidence-based programming in fragile contexts.

Germany stresses the importance of data for development and aims to promote transparent and open data in order to strengthen evidence-based decision-making in its partner countries. This is reflected in BMZ’s new digital technologies for development strategy.

More information on the “Supporting Sustainable Peace” project.

More information on the States of Fragility reports.