Your Excellency, Ambassador Baye Moctar Diop, permanent representative of the Republic of Senegal to the African Union (AU) and AU Peace and Security chairperson, thank you for giving the International Crisis Group the opportunity to address the AU Peace and Security Council on this important theme of “Peace, Security and Development: Taking Security Challenges into Account in Development Financing”. It is an honour for us to be invited to this important chamber and to present to your excellencies – permanent representatives to the AU – and to be on the panel with Smail Chergui, AU commissioner for peace and security; Vera Songwe, executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa; Hannah Tetteh, UN under-secretary-general, special representative of the secretary-general to the AU and head of the UN Office to the African Union; and Dr Paul Mpuga, chief country economist for Ethiopia at the African Development Bank.
January 26, 2021
Both advocates and practitioners of global development have called on the Biden-Harris administration to elevate development as an instrument of national security and an expression of U.S. national character. The nomination of former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), now with a seat on the National Security Council (NSC), is an important step in that direction. Additionally, a strategy for global development can strengthen and consolidate development objectives. Yet, some policymakers, especially those who have been involved in previous strategic efforts, warn against burdensome processes that may not be worth the time and effort. Having both contributed to prior strategies and worked in the absence of one, our answer is emphatically yes:
The Global Fragility Act (GFA), passed by Congress and signed into law in 2019, requires the State Department, USAID, and other agencies to put in place for the first time a comprehensive strategy to address state fragility, violent conflict, and extremism, relying on best practices that are key to more effective and integrated U.S. policy. This report focuses on six key themes in the legislation, drawing on the expertise of leading peacebuilding and development experts to help generate practical solutions for advancing the GFA.
Introduction
Addressing state fragility and violent conflict is one of the central challenges of the modern era. Violent conflicts have risen in number, duration, and intensity since 1990, spurring the spread of violent extremism and one of the largest displacement crises in human history, causing untold human suffering. As a result, the international community has coalesced around the need for new approaches to reduce conflict’s underlying drivers and in