Without minimum levels of security, protection from violence and mechanisms to hold public and private actors to account for abuses, poor people will lack the confidence to participate in politics and decision making (Pearce J., McGee, R. and Wheeler, J., forthcoming). In areas where there are failures of state authority and/or abuses by state security forces, security and justice are often delivered by non-state actors (e.g. community groups, traditional authorities," militias) with varying levels of legitimacy and accountability. The first step is therefore to undertake an analysis of who delivers justice and security, how and with what outcomes. Instead, donors need to encourage local debate and discuss with local elites how international principles can be reconciled with local practices and values, reflect their own interests and respond to people’s needs.