3C Approaches to Fragile and Conflict Situations

On 19 and 20 March 2009, Switzerland hosted an international conference on Whole of Government and System Approaches in Situations of Conflict and Fragility, in association with OECD-DAC, NATO, the World Bank and the UN System. The conference aims to come to a roadmap for the international community for advancing the implementation of a Coherent, Coordinated and Complementary (3C) approach in situations of crisis, conflict and fragility. This paper serves as a background document to this conference, drawing together the main findings of previous OECD-DAC studies on whole of government approaches to fragile situations, as well as the main recommendations of three thematic meetings on the subjects that have taken place in the framework of OECD-DAC1 and the Accra High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.2 Based on these findings and recommendations, the paper will highlight a number of challenges that remain to be addressed by the international community on its path to a 3C approach in fragile and conflict situations.