Leaving no one behind in fragile states

SAIS second year student Alexandra Martin reports from the World Bank’s Fragility Forum meeting this week in Washington:

The world appears to be particularly volatile these days, facing challenges that threaten and undermine development progress that has been achieved in the last decade. With an unstable MENA region and a disastrous war in Syria, the most alarming refugee crisis since the end of the World War II, and an increasingly fragile environment across the globe, the ambitious agendas of various international organizations are at risk.

From 1 to 3 March the World Bank is hosting the Fragility Forum 2016 under the theme “Take Action for Peaceful and Inclusive Societies.” Development, humanitarian, security and diplomatic actors are looking for ways forward in collaboration, in order to identify important new steps in reducing the underlying causes of fragility, conflict and violence. The World Bank Group has committed to achieve its own twin goals: to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to promote shared responsibility in a sustainable manner.

The opening panel of the Fragility Forum featured high level global personalities who discussed how to push forward the sustainable development agenda, including in particular the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: peace, justice and strong institutions. Here are a few of the highlights:

Sri Mulyani Indrawati (COO, The World Bank) emphasized the twin goals of the Bank and reiterated that the current and emerging threats such as extremism and inequality jeopardize efforts at ending poverty. She also called for collective institutional action that would enable closer cooperation between humanitarian, development, government and peace-building communities.

Jim Yong Kim (CEO, The World Bank) reminded the participants that “we put at risk our collective hope” to achieve our goals. Inequality has substantially increased and instability has become “normal.” The current situation in the Middle East and North Africa, especially the ongoing war in Syria, creates spill-over not only in the region but also beyond. Violence against civilians, forced displacement and terrorism are now part of a new paradigm in which peace and development must go hand in hand and not sequentially.

Kim asked the participants at the forum to respond to six questions relevant for work in the fragile environments:

1. Fragility is not limited anymore to low income countries. How do we cope with this phenomenon in middle income countries?
2. How do we improve service delivery and technical capacity in low income countries?
3. How can the humanitarian and development people work better together: one humanity, shared responsibility?
4. Most of the refugees around the world don’t live in camps anymore, creating pressure on the local communities. How can we ensure that both refugee and local communities are well served and their needs met?
5. There is not enough ODA to satisfy current needs. What are the innovative financial instruments which can be implemented? For example, the newly created MENA Financing Facility ($1 billlion).
6. We don’t know enough about refugees, who they are, what they want, what are their skills and capabilities, whom they left behind. How can we better adjust our programs to meet their needs?

In conclusion, he highlighted the risk of paying attention only when there is an acute crisis, like the refugee situation in Europe now. Intervention without follow-on efforts creates instability. The World Bank is committed to work together with its partners and join efforts to find new ways forward.

UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson brought to participants’ attention the new “5P agenda”: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership. He cited the latest achievements at the global level, such as the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. “There is no peace without development, no development without peace and neither peace nor development without respect for human rights,” the UN DSG said while emphasizing that finding a settlement for protracted conflicts is increasingly difficult. There are several factors that trigger conflict: political rivalry, international interference, human rights violations, extremism or weak governance, but it is in everyone’s interest to find peaceful solutions to conflicts.

Eliasson conveyed three key messages:

1. Preventing conflicts should become a top priority. This implies a better understanding of the early trends, before there is escalation. Much more pre- and post-conflict work is needed, from the first signs of instability to full recovery. Reducing the risks and building resilience remain an important objectives.
2. The humanitarian needs must be reduced. Demands are overwhelming supply. 125 million people need humanitarian assistance today. The $16.4 billion UN response is falling short. The lack of funds affects peoples’ lives
3. We must work together. To achieve sustainable peace, more targeted resources that reduce the sources of conflict must be put together. National ownership, national capacities and national leadership need to be supported with international technical assistance.

Last, but not least, Eliasson asked the participants to think about the shared humanity and responsibility that drive our actions and the importance to us all of responding to the expectations of impoverished people. Multilateral cooperation, combined with more credible institutions, are a way forward. Fragmentation of efforts is costly and ineffective. There are no quick and easy fixes to address the disillusion and grievances of the people worldwide.