In recognition of the challenges of working effectively in conflict-affected and fragile situations, including insecurity, weak state capacity, difficult political environments and acute humanitarian crises, the OECD-DAC developed a series of Principles for Good International Engagement in Fragile States and Situations in April 2007 to complement the commitments set out in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. DFID has produced a series of briefing papers in line with the DAC principles, to help country offices to develop more effective responses to the challenges they face.

This Summary Note provides an overview of the Briefing Papers, to give a sense of main issues that should be borne in mind when engaging in situations of conflict and fragility.  The papers are not intended to be prescriptive. Rather, given the complexity of the challenges in different contexts, the papers flesh out the issues, and present some lessons and case studies to illustrate what can and is being done at the moment.