International Alert, ISS and OXFAM organised a conference on "Aid effectiveness in Fragile and Conflict-affected Contexts: the New Deal Framework and Citizens’ Security" on 29th and 30th May 2012 in Addis Ababa.
The overall objective of the conference is to shape the debate and develop a shared view on aid effectiveness in fragile contexts and assess the implication of the New Deal as a framework for improving the security and prosperity of citizens in the five pilot countries of Africa: DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), CAR (Central African Republic), Liberia, Sierra Leone and South Sudan. Further, to explore how the AUC (African Union Commission) and RECs (Regional Economic Communities) can contribute in the successful implementation of the framework and the challenges of development partners in these processes.
The conference will bring about 40 diplomats and high calibre speakers from the AUC, pilot countries in Africa, RECs, development partners, and CSOs.
The ‘New Deal for engagement in fragile states’ is an outcome document of the Busan High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 2011, which articulates shifts in the way that engagement with and work within fragile states occurs. It puts forth five Peace and Statebuilding Goals (PSGs) as a foundation to guide work at the country level (legitimate politics; security; justice; economic foundations; and revenues and services), as well as two acronyms (FOCUS and TRUST) which spell out commitments to provide more support to country-led and country-owned transitions out of fragility, as well as more effective use of resources to achieve these results.
The New Deal was brought to fruition by the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (IDPS), itself an outcome of the Accra High Level Forum in 2008, borne out of the realisation that if greater progress was to be made towards the MDGs, then a more coherent and equitable dialogue between conflict-affected countries and their international partners needed to take place. Both the New Deal and the IDPS are important, because they recognise that the transition from fragility to stability is a long and difficult one, and that work supporting this transition must be informed by greater inclusivity, mutual accountability, partnership and trust.