Social protection and basic services in conflict-affected situations: what do we know?

Rachel Slater, Richard Mallett and Samuel Carpenter

Type: Briefing Paper, Global, Rachel Slater, Richard Mallett, Samuel Carpenter

Organisation: ODI

Country: Global

Full summary

This briefing paper summarises the findings of a working paper exploring social protection and basic services (health, education and water) in fragile and conflict-affected situations and finds:

  • Evidence on social protection and service delivery in conflict-affected situations is fairly limited and of variable quality
  • The claim that there is a causal link between service delivery and state-building is frequently made but rarely evidenced
  • Gaps remain in the guidance about how to deliver basic services in volatile, low capacity situations, particularly in relation to comparative costs and programme effectiveness