WHERE URGENT HUMANITARIAN NEEDS MEET LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Fragility is a rising concern across OECD’s multidimensional lens. According to latest studies, over 122 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced and needed outpace funding. In that situation, what counts is delivery that is fast and trusted. The approach of GFA Consulting Group is pragmatic – access built on trusted local relationships and consistent presence combined with rapid implementation with fiduciary and compliance
assurance and a bridge from urgent fixes to system reforms that last.
For donors, the urgency is clear: They need partners who can deliver reliably, accountably, and safely in environments where volatility is the norm, institutions are contested,
and access can shift overnight. Funding is increasingly tied to risk management, conflict sensitivity, flexible delivery models, fiduciary assurance, and measurable contribution to
collective outcomes.
© FG Trade, istock
Development cooperation has become fundamentally political. Donors require implementers who can sustain presence, maintain neutrality, and uphold compliance without slowing down delivery. GFA’s philosophy reflects exactly this expectation: We combine technical excellence with a low-visibility, high-trust operational style, prioritising discretion, local relationships, and continuity over branding or institutional positioning.
Our attitude is one of respect for local actors, humility in complex environments, and a commitment to long-term partnership, even under deteriorating conditions. In our grounded approach, we define “fragile contexts” not as an abstract category but as a set of overlapping pressures that profoundly shape people’s lives.
The OECD describes fragility as a state’s limited resilience across political, societal, economic, environmental, and security dimensions. IDOS emphasises weaknesses in
legitimacy, authority, and capacity - often visible in contexts where government institutions are contested or absent, social contracts fray, or communities rely on parallel governance
systems for safety and services.
These definitions can appear euphemistic: In practice, fragility can mean municipal water systems destroyed by shelling in Ukraine, districts in Burkina Faso cut off by non-state armed groups, health systems in the Democratic Republic of the Congo operating despite decades of insecurity, or cities in Yemen where access depends on daily negotiation with changing authorities. These are not merely “fragile contexts” – they are environments where basic rights, services, and security cannot be taken for granted, and where development actors must adapt constantly to keep programmes functioning and people supported.
Read more in our FRAGILE CONTEXTS CAPABILITY STATEMENT (see download factsheet).
Contact
Maren Kröger
Senior Consultant
Private Sector, Skills and Employment Department
E-mail: maren.kroeger[at]gfa-group.de
