N° 5 - Identifying and Implementing EU Modalities & Instruments in Situations of Conflict & Fragility

MAKING THE BEST USE OF A VAST EXPERIENCE

Topic overview

SUMMARY

The EU has a range of dedicated modalities and instruments especially adapted for situations of conflict and fragility, making best use of a wealth of experience.
Instruments that allow urgent short-term reaction such as the IcSP can be combined with modalities that serve long-term goals of state-building, including state-building contracts.
The EU has launched an EU multi-donor trust fund that can bring together and harmonise the resources of many donors and reduce complications and transaction costs for states in situations of conflict and fragility.
There is no prescription for how to use the available modalities and instruments because each case is unique. Each Delegation responding to a fragile or conflict-affected situation will need to identify an appropriate mix of modalities, and implement and adjust them according to the results obtained and the changing situation.
It is vital to consider the security and well-being of the staff involved — not only of the Delegation but also of its contractors and partners.

Situations of conflict and fragility are complicated and fast changing. A very large proportion of EU support is now directed to fragile and conflict-affected situations, and there is increasing recognition that modalities have to adapt to this new ‘normal’ situation. In response, the EU has developed — and continues to develop — a variety of modalities and instruments that, in combination, can react rapidly to situations of conflict and fragility, as well as develop the basis for long-term transition and change.

The range of modalities and instruments is presented in Section 2.4 of Part I of this handbook. Modalities can be divided into project support and budget support. For both of these modalities, there are a number of instruments that can be used; and for crisis declaration countries, special flexible procedures can be invoked (see Note No 6).

This note looks at experience with using the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP) and state-building contract budget (SBC) modality. The note also introduces the new possibilities of the EU trust fund.

The core instrument for ensuring a rapid response in fragile and conflicted-affected situations has been the Instrument for Stability (IfS), now replaced by the IcSP (Box 1). The IcSP uses a project-based modality and is particularly adapted for reacting to situations that could not have been foreseen as part of normal programming.

Box 1 Situations for which the IcSP was designed

Situations of urgency, crisis or emerging crisis
Situations posing a threat to democracy, law and order, the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, or the security and safety of individuals, in particular those exposed to gender-based violence in situations of instability
Situations threatening to escalate into armed conflict or to severely destabilise the third country or countries concerned.

Since 2012, state-building contracts have been added as a potentially powerful budget support modality (Box 2) to respond to situations of conflict and fragility where the countries have a credible strategy for and commitment to building up the state and delivering basic services.

Box 2 Situations for which the SBC was designed

Where a fragile state has a credible strategy for and commitment to building the state and delivering basic services, but lacks the financial resources and capacity
Where there are good prospects for improving country systems by supporting and improving them from within by promoting a better and more structured public administration, a more efficient public financial management system, more transparent and accountable planning and budgeting systems, and gradually restoring macroeconomic stability
Where fragility or transition processes require promoting development, democratic governance and human rights, including making sustainable changes in transition societies and helping to ensure the revival of vital state functions.

Increasingly, the EU has sought joint approaches with others in the spirit of the New Deal (e.g. the use of compacts; an example of which can be found here). More recently, a new instrument, the EU trust fund, has been set up to facilitate the pooling of EU funds with those of other donors under the lead of the EC. This is expected to improve the impact of the EU’s external assistance in terms of concrete deliverables for crises and global challenges and to reinforce its credibility and visibility on the international scene (Box 3).

Box 3 Why the EU trust fund was needed

The EU may lead international initiatives, where it can demonstrate its added value
Provides increased visibility for the EU and Member States
Reinforces accountability, control and transparency, particularly vis-à-vis European control institutions
Facilitates donor coordination, in particular with the EU and Member States
Brings in more resources and more flexible mechanisms.

There is no prescription as to how to use the modalities and instruments, because each case is unique. Each Delegation responding to a fragile or conflict-affected situation will need to identify an appropriate mix of modalities and implement and adjust them according to the results obtained and the changing situation.

This note looks at the experience of using a range of modalities and instruments in a number of different cases and examples.

Niger: an example of using the IfS (now the IcSP) as part of an interim response programme that uses a mix of financial and non-financial instruments
Sri Lanka: using the IfS (now the IcSP) to contribute to enhancing conflict-sensitive programming
State-building contracts: lessons learned from the first countries using this modality
Engaging in multi-donor trust funds: lessons and experience from other trust funds.

To find out more and read the key issues and case study, Download this fifth note

(225,22 KB)

Access file in the Group's Library

Public Group on Fragility and Crisis Situations

Table of contents