This is the sixth in a series of annual conferences on development finance and public financial management reform organised by the Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure at ODI.  The conference will focus on the practical and policy aspects of how to use finance to support fragile states in their transition out of fragility and the associated implications for public financial management. The conference is being organised jointly with the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department.

The conference intends to work toward a set of “guiding principles “ encapsulating lessons learnt on how to deploy finance and support financial management  reform in fragile states. The conference is intended to be participatory and will focus around a number of facilitated panels and plenary discussions across five sessions.   Each session will be led by a carefully selected panel. To encourage fruitful discussion at the actual event, the conference is invitation only. Discussion over the two days will be focussed around four main themes:

• Delivering effective financial support – joining the dots from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe

• Developing local financial management capacity – moving from quick fixes to sustained reforms.

• The role of transparency and accountability

• Public financial management reform in fragile states – what is working and why

Ahead of the conference, ODI will produce issue papers to help stimulate these discussions, which will become available online on the days of the conference itself. The lessons learned will be captured in audio recordings, video footage and a conference report, which we will disseminate after the conference.