AT A GLANCE: In recent years there has been increasing international interest in strengthening donor engagement and response to challenges facing fragile and conflict-affected countries. Over the past two years, the Bank has considerably scaled up its capacity to respond to challenges in situations of fragility and conflict through a set of policy and institutional reforms, and initiatives to strengthen external partnerships. Why Fragile States? Fragile states face particularly severe development challenges such as weak institutional capacity, poor governance, political instability and frequently also ongoing violence or the legacy of past conflict, with potential spill-over effects on neighboring countries. Fragile states are least likely to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) accounting for 27 per cent of the extreme poor, nearly 30 per cent of all child deaths, and 29 per cent of 12-year olds who did not complete primary school in 2005. Risk of renewed conflict in post conflict countries is high—an estimated 50 percent of post-conflict countries relapse into conflict within 10 years. Definition: The Bank’s definition of fragile states is based on a Country Policy and Institutional Assessment(CPIA) rating of 3.2 or lower. Along with the EU, OECD-DAC and other MDBs, the Bank is committed to fragile situations to ensure that appropriate approaches are used to address fragility, including at the sub-national level (for instance Aceh, Mindanao) or in countries at higher income levels (for instance Lebanon, Iraq). Fragility is deemed a temporary status, not a permanent classification. Bank Focus on Fragile and Conflict-Affected Countries: Starting in the late 1990s the Bank has considerably strengthened its capacity to address the specific needs and circumstances of countries emerging from conflict, both with respect to our operational policy, and with respect to the financial support we can provide. The Bank’s work in fragile states started in 2001/02 with the establishment of a Task Force on Low Income Countries Under Stress (LICUS) - co-chaired by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former finance minister of Nigeria and recently appointed World Bank Managing Director, and Paul Collier, former Director of the Development Research Group of the World Bank. Post-Conflict Financing: The Bank has significantly enhanced its capacity to provide financial support throughout the period of recovery from conflict. Much of this innovation has taken place within the IDA context and includes grant financing from the Post Conflict Fund and the LICUS Trust Fund, pre-arrears clearance grants from IDA, exceptional post-conflict IDA allocations once arrears are cleared, and support from IBRD surplus. Partnerships: The Bank continues to foster strong partnerships with UN agencies, the new UN Peace-Building Commission (PBC), bilateral donors and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) - Development Assistance Committee (DAC), to address the need for integrated approaches to support peace-building and state-building goals in the most fragile and conflict-affected countries. The Bank co-chairs and actively participates in meetings of the OECD/DAC Fragile States Group. The Bank has also been working closely with other multilateral development banks (MDBs) to harmonize approaches in Fragile States and improve field coordination. Recent Bank Reforms - In February 2007, the World Bank Board approved a new “Framework for Rapid Response” which aims to speed up and strengthen the Bank’s response to crises and emergencies, by enabling the disbursement of Bank’s funds within as little as three months and, a principle to balance ex-ante and ex-post risk mitigation and control measures. The new policy also provides the Bank with the necessary flexibility to i) respond to a wider range of emergencies to support the preservation of social, economic and institutional capital and peace building, as well as imminent natural and man-made disasters, ii) address weak-capacity situations through simplified procedures for the deployment of the services of UN agencies, NGOs and private entities; and iii) to support national and multi-donor integrated programs that draw important linkages between different stages of relief, recovery and long term reconstruction and peace building. Since February this year, projects worth US$ 373 million have been approved and processed under this policy, for Côte d’Ivoire, Central African Republic, Liberia, Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Timor Leste.
- Implementation of the new framework for rapid response is supported by a new organizational strategy designed to: place more staff in the field; ensure that experienced staff from all parts of the Bank are mobilized to work on rapid response operations in fragile and conflict-affected situations; and develop tools and good practice for staff.
- At their request, the Bank submitted to the IDA Deputies a number of proposals for strengthening the Bank’s support to fragile states including through adjustments to the post-conflict allocation, exceptional allocations for re-engaging countries, and a systematic approach to arrears clearances.
- Management has recently combined the mandates and functions of the Fragile States Unit and the Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Unit in the new Fragile and Conflict-Affected Countries Group. The consolidation is intended to enhance the effectiveness of Bank support and response to fragile and conflict affected countries.
- The Bank and the UN are working on a new partnership note to support joint work in crises and emergencies based on agreed principles of engagement and collaboration which underline national ownership, leadership of country-based representatives, and key linkages between peace-keeping, humanitarian and development planning processes.
Updated October 2007 Contact:
Cosma Gatere, (202) 458-7170
cgatere@worldbank.org |
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