Aid Effectiveness

International aid donors and the poorer governments they fund have overlapping, but far from identical interests. They overlap in their common desire to spend donor money in support of development progress, broadly put. But they often differ on what are the best development choices, and on issues like the need or opportunity for compliance with human rights and good financial stewardship norms.

International Alert has recently launched a paper that explores some profound questions about peace and peacebuilding in South Sudan and Sudan, as a contribution to the debate about how to build a more comprehensive and more stable peace within and between the two Sudans.

This series of three country “Insights” identifies peacebuilding priorities in Burundi, Liberia and Nepal, and discusses the response of the international institutions operating there. The focus institutions are primarily the World Bank and the UN. The insights provide a brief snapshot and analysis of each country’s particular peacebuilding needs, as well as the dynamics that either facilitate or hinder institutional ability to address these needs.

Full report

This series of three country “Insights” identifies peacebuilding priorities in Burundi, Liberia and Nepal, and discusses the response of the international institutions operating there.  The focus institutions are primarily the World Bank and the UN. The insights provide a brief snapshot and analysis of each country’s particular peacebuilding needs, as well as the dynamics that either facilitate or hinder institutional ability to address these needs.

Full report

This series of three country “Insights” identifies peacebuilding priorities in Burundi, Liberia and Nepal, and discusses the response of the international institutions operating there. The focus institutions are primarily the World Bank and the UN. The insights provide a brief snapshot and analysis of each country’s particular peacebuilding needs, as well as the dynamics that either facilitate or hinder institutional ability to address these needs.

Full report

By Phil Vernon

At the end of November, 2,000 representatives of governments, international organisations and NGOs convened in Busan as the fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. Just before the meeting we proposed five criteria by which to judge its outcome as far as conflict-affected and fragile countries are concerned

Our five criteria were:

Two thousand representatives of governments, the UN, other multilateral organisations and NGOs will shortly convene in Busan, South Korea, as the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to discuss the effectiveness of overseas development aid.

It’s countries affected by armed conflict that face the toughest development challenges. What would success at Busan look like for them?

New thinking on development and conflict

Jackson W Speare, Head of our Liberia Office, was interviewed by the Newshour programme for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) channel last week. In the programme, during which current Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and challenger Winston Tubman also give their thoughts on the prospects for peace in the country, Jackson talks about the view from the ground among Liberia's youth and those who do not live in the capital Monrovia.

The election, which is taking place today, is only the second election since the end of Liberia's civil war.

'The World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security and Development' is shifting the language of international policy on supporting peace and development in fragile and conflict-affected countries. In a briefing for the Bretton Woods Project, Monica Stephen of International Alert examines how the World Bank’s operations need to adjust to support peace and development.

Why is development progress difficult in fragile and conflict-affected countries?  International Alert conducted a series of studies in Burundi, Liberia and Nepal to explore this question in terms of how international institutions channel aid to support peace and development progress. The studies focused on two multilaterals: the World Bank and the United Nations.

Report

International Alert gave evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on International Development yesterday, as part of their formal Inquiry into “Working Effectively in Conflict Affected and Fragile States”.

Dan Smith, Alert Secretary-General, was interviewed in Washington DC at the Woodrow Wilson Centre last week about the nature of our work. You can watch his thoughts, which include some observations about the challenges and opportunities of peacebuilding, below: