Fragility Resilience Assessment Management Exercise (FRAME): Analysing risks and opportunities

Publication language
English
Pages
22pp
Date published
17 Sep 2023
Type
Tools, guidelines and methodologies
Keywords
Assessment & Analysis
Countries
Global, Mali, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo

Programming in fragile contexts is inherently risky, in that we may have relatively limited control over the outcomes. Failure is therefore more likely, explaining the tendency towards risk aversion by many donors. However, fragile contexts also confront donors with high and urgent needs and therefore opportunities to support resilience where it is much needed. Therefore, in order to prevent failure and adapt interventions it is important to have an in-depth understanding of the risks and opportunities you will be confronted with when working in such fragile contexts. 

FRAME (Fragility Resilience Assessment Management Exercise) has been developed as a supporting tool to assess and manage risks and opportunities when working in fragile contexts. FRAME consists of three interrelated building blocks.

  • The guidelines - the reminder of this document - present general guiding principles to conduct a risk exercise. They present a step-by-step guide how to define the scope of the exercise and identify, evaluate and respond to risks and opportunities related to fragile contexts.
  • Annex A provides a list of the 10 fragility components that can serve to structure the assessment. If this list is followed, a holistic and multi-dimensional approach to fragility can be guaranteed. However, this list is by no means complete and not all components will be relevant in all settings, hence the need to adapt to needs, objectives and the particular context.
  • Annex B provides a practical tool that translates the guiding principles and annex A into a template that can be used to conduct the exercise and assure follow-up. 

The tool has been developed through field-testing in Mali, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Initially it is designed to help the Belgian Embassies to identify the right priorities and modalities for their engagement in fragile contexts, and to monitor such contexts. However, the analysis is flexible and can be adapted according to the needs and objectives of the end user.