Social Service Delivery in Violent Contexts

Abstract

This report provides the foundation for
 a new approach to service delivery in violence-affected
 contexts that is sensitive to the actual forms of violence,
 politics, and bargaining encountered in many
 conflict-affected states. The findings unearth issues about
 how development organizations should approach service
 delivery in contested settings. As many countries today are
 riven by conflict and internal division, some familiar rules
 of the game may be inadequate to deal with the mounting
 humanitarian and development challenges posed by complex
 conflict situations, particularly where affected people need
 access to social services. This raises dilemmas about the
 ethical and political judgments and trade-offs that
 development actors frequently have to make. A key challenge
 is whether development actors can adapt their procedures and
 ways of working to the fluidity, uncertainties, and risk
 taking that the new, conflict-riven landscape demands while
 preserving financial accountability, doing no harm, and
 ensuring aid effectiveness. Based on research in
 Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal, the report probes how
 social service delivery is affected by violent conflict and
 what are the critical factors that make or break successful delivery.