Giving Compass' Take:

• George Ingram and Nancy Lindborg discuss the implementation of fragility strategies aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. 

• How can funders learn from and improve upon fragility strategies? 

• Learn about sustainable development in fragile contexts. 

The stubborn challenge of fragility continues to drive a host of obstacles to global peace and prosperity. The 2018 OECD “States of Fragility” report calculates that the number of people living in fragile contexts will grow from 1.8 billion in 2018 to 2.3 billion in 2030. While poverty continues to fall everywhere else around the world, fragile states are projected to be home to 80 percent of those living in extreme poverty by 2030.

Moreover, fragility also serves as the common denominator in rising global trends in violent conflict, pandemics, and forced migration and refugees. Violent extremists have exploited fragile regions and conflict zones, spreading to 19 of the 45 countries that make up the Sahel, Horn of Africa, and Middle East, sowing further instability and undermining already fragile states.

As a result, the challenge of state fragility is now being viewed as both a global security threat and the principal obstacle to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The success of current approaches to helping countries move beyond fragility has been limited, including too often outright failure. In the face of this frustration, a consensus is emerging among policymakers for the need to align across development, humanitarian, diplomatic, and security sectors to unlock potential solutions and speed efforts at effective action.

In the past year alone, important initiatives have been undertaken in the U.S. by the administration, the Congress, and civil society, complementing similar initiatives in the U.K., the EU, the United Nations, and the World Bank. The urgent next step will be to build off this consolidation and alignment and convert growing political will into support for the effective implementation of new approaches.

Read the full article about the implementation of fragility strategies by George Ingram and Nancy Lindborg at Brookings.