Since 2022, IRMA has been supporting Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR)—a USAID-funded health development project focused on fragile and conflict-affected contexts—to strengthen its understanding of fragility, the implications for health and how to operationalize this knowledge in their health resilience programming. IRMA developed the Context and Fragility Assessment (CFA) Guidance for MIHR in 2023, In 2024 IRMA worked with MIHR to pilot the CFA Guidance in DRC, South Sudan, Niger, Tanzania and Yemen.
For each CFA, IRMA applied the health-sensitive framework for understanding fragility that IRMA developed with MIHR in 2022-23. In doing so, for each country IRMA:
- Developed a synthesis and systems mapping of key factors across political, security, economic, social, environmental and health dimensions per country/sub-national context where MIHR operates
- Conducted a deep drive into each dimension, rating each factor and providing an analysis of how each non-health dimension impacts health
- Explored the implications of the fragility dynamics for the state-society relationship
- Provided an overview of other context considerations including: key actors; populations and identity groups; and social norms, beliefs and traditional structures; and a mapping of humanitarian, development and peace actors in the areas of operation.
Drawing on the findings, conclusions explored which fragility dimensions were most significant to MIHR’s activities; key Do No Harm/Conflict Sensitivity considerations; and risk scenarios for resilience strategy development and contingency planning. Recommended actions and next steps were provided across these themes.
IRMA’s team for these assignments included Hannah Vaughan-Lee (Team Leader), Lezlie Morinière, Marilise Turnbull and Carlos Villatoro.
