A growing number of countries falls today under the definition of fragile or in conflict. To develop and implement policies aimed at promoting peace, stability and inclusive growth is a challenge because of the volatile and complex political conditions on the ground. This challenge is further exacerbated by the lack of transparency and accountability policy-makers and donor practitioners face in these countries and by the frequent abuse of power. The limited success in supporting inclusive growth and accountable institutions in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Sierra Leone and CAR is a sobering reminder of the urgency of this challenge and of our collective vulnerability when it comes to address corruption in these contexts, and more broadly to establish the foundations for inclusive growth and development.
The proposed high-level panel will bring together the experience of policy makers and development practitioners to highlight some of the initial lessons that are emerging and to emphasize the areas where our collective response is needed to push this agenda forward. Some lessons are emerging: (i) the importance to understand the context and have a long-term vision; (ii) the (often greatly underestimated) risk associated with the existing corruption networks; (iii) the limited understanding of how corruption networks operate in these contexts; (iv) the critical role of accountability and rule of law systems and the biased toward reconstruction of physical infrastructure rather than of governance systems; (v) the need to focus on building capacity and skills within the government systems on the ground. All these risks undermine stability and the peace process. The proposed high-level panel will be complemented by technical panels and practitioners’ discussions that will zoom in on specific dimensions of the challenge to address corruption in fragile environments.
