WASHINGTON, January 8, 2009– There needs to be a stronger link among security, governance and development in countries like Afghanistan, Haiti and Liberia if the one billion people living today in fragile states are ever to escape extreme poverty, said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick.
Speaking on the role of the World Bank and donors, Zoellick said the stakes for success or failure were high as fragile states in South Asia and Africa can create fragile regions that could then become global threats. Taking Afghanistan as an example, Zoellick said proposals for a troop build-up by NATO only went so far in addressing the country’s problems.
“NATO’s security plans need a tighter link to development outcomes that boost local legitimacy, ownership, and eventually, security by Afghans for Afghans,”Zoellick told a conference entitled "Passing the Baton: Foreign Policy Challenges and Opportunities Facing the New Administration" that was organized by the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC. “To build legitimacy, we need to achieve concrete results – for example, the delivery of basic services, operated by national authorities working closely with local communities.”
In Afghanistan, one opportunity would be to expand the National Solidarity Program, which the Afghan government launched with the support of the World Bank, Zoellick said. This program had already reached 17 million Afghans in 22,000 communities in all 34 provinces. It used small block grants to support community projects, selected by elected community development councils, to build infrastructure such as roads, irrigation works, water supply, electricity, and schools. Zoellick noted that the program’s projects have an economic rate of return close to 20 percent.
Action needed to be taken by the Afghan leadership, supported by donors, against the opium economy, Zoellick said. This was financing the war within Afghanistan’s borders and corrupting the legitimacy of its struggling government. “As we have seen in Colombia and elsewhere, narco-regimes will gradually take over legitimate governments; they cannot co-exist,” he said.Most of the proceeds from opium cultivation went to traffickers and traders, with poor rural families receiving only a fraction. “This suggests targets for both law enforcement and rural development,”Zoellick added.
Turning to Haiti, Zoellick said donors and the Haitian government had an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty and insecurity. Providing additional resources, donors should join the government in trying to achieve three to four development objectives over the next few years that produce tangible results for the country’s impoverished population and put Haiti on a path to achieving the prosperity of Central America.
“To do so, donors must reduce the administrative burden they impose on the very weak Haitian state,”said Zoellick. “The United States – the Executive and Congress – should agree to pool its resources with others through trust funds, so Haiti and its supporters can concentrate effort efficiently on building government effectiveness while achieving the baseline development goals.”
Liberiahad taken great strides in restoring its economy and improving the living standards of its people after years of civil war, Zoellick said. But interest in the donor community was now waning even though the West African country needed more help.
“The new Administration could give Liberia a high priority, with a strategy of building regional integration in West Africa,”Zoellick said.
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