Fragile Settings

People in fragile settings cope with risks that can include one or more of the following:

• Severely limited access to healthcare, education, sanitation, and other essentials
• Barriers to economic development such as lack of roads, public and private transportation, and access to information services such as the radio or Internet
• Poverty caused by environmental or political shocks
• Civil war, instability, and violence that create even more barriers to progress
• Chronic and acute environmental event (floods, droughts, earthquakes, etc.) and climate change impacts
• A weak private sector and non-functioning local markets
• Government that struggles to mobilize domestic and international resources to invest at adequate levels in social welfare programs
• Municipalities that lack the domestic resources, both human and financial, to invest in basic services
• Large number of forcibly displaced people, leading to the breaking of community safety nets and intense competition for scarce resources between displaced populations and local host communities

How we deliver solutions for fragile settings

As an organization that specializes in fragile settings, we channel our efforts into programs that target the key sectors of health and nutrition; education; economic opportunity; and water, sanitation, and hygiene. These areas are critical for helping develop better governance and institutions.

We make these investments over the long-term. In 11 of the 16 countries where we operate, we have been present for 10 years or more. Our long-term commitment enhances the effectiveness of development principles and reduces the kind of volatility that can undermine progress when tackling overlapping risks.

Our work is multi-sector and integrated, using a systems approach. That means we support solutions that reinforce and improve upon existing in-country systems. Where such systems do not exist or are chronically underperforming, our response lays the foundation for long-term, sustainable change.

Relief International’s work is most effective when we partner with communities, national governments, peer international organizations, local civil society, public institutions and the private sector. Collaboration enables us to harness complementary expertise and networks that ensures the people we serve receive the best solutions available.