In an effort to generate better understanding and to identify useful lessons and findings for researchers and decision makers working on and in fragile and conflicted-affected situations, this review synthesises and assesses the available evidence on social protection and basic services (health, education and water) in fragile and conflict-affected situations.
Relevant literature was gathered through a multi-staged process, including: three systematic reviews on school feeding, social funds and water user committees; a snowballing approach with the starting point determined by recognised experts; and an orthodox literature review process focusing on institutional websites – and reviewed through the lens of an analytical framework involving three frames (people and communities; the state; non-state actors).
Key Findings:
- The evidence base on social protection and basic services in fragile and conflict-affected situations is generally fairly weak. Data can be extremely patchy: resources are particularly sparse on social protection, and there are varying levels of data depth, breadth and quality seen across the basic service sectors. Yet, innovative monitoring and evaluation processes are now being implemented in fragile and conflict-affected situations.
- The available evidence suggests that social protection in fragile and conflict-affected situations is delivered predominantly by non-state actors, specifically international non-governmental organisations or UN agencies, with projects that are generally small in scale, of limited coverage and involving food- or cash-based assistance.
- There is substantial evidence of individuals, households and communities maintaining and utilising agency in order to access social protection and basic services in fragile and conflict-affected situations. However, programming regularly fails to build on existing strategies and practices, and in some instances has been found to undermine people’s activities.
- Despite widely circulated assumptions to the contrary, it is clear that we know relatively little about building states and stability through service delivery and social protection programming. Evidence from a whole host of countries – and in all three basic service sectors – suggests there is a case for an increased focus on accountability and the importance of citizen demand in basic service delivery, implying both a discursive and policy shift towards what might be termed ‘citizenship building’.
- There are clear challenges associated with programming and delivery for international aid actors seeking to ensure conflict sensitivity and/or mitigation whilst not undermining the goals of expanding access and ensuring equity. Although still thin and significantly outweighed by rhetoric, there is some emerging evidence confirming the potential of education and water interventions to facilitate positive peace-building processes.
Recommendations:
- An up-to-date, solid evidence base is essential to effective policymaking that can improve results and deliver value for money in relation to aid interventions, stabilisation and statebuilding in fragile and conflicted-affected situations.
