This SLRC briefing paper summarises the findings of a working paper exploring social protection and basic services (health, education and water) in fragile and conflict-affected situations and finds:

• Evidence on social protection and service delivery in conflict-affected situations is fairly limited and of variable quality
• The claim that there is a causal link between service delivery and state-building is frequently made but rarely evidenced
• Gaps remain in the guidance about how to deliver basic services in volatile, low capacity situations, particularly in relation to comparative costs and programme effectiveness