I.A.M - Magazine - Page 36
Also significant, is the Transition Support Facility (TSF)
which was established in 2004 to mobilize and deploy
resources for peacebuilding, economic stabilization, and
institutional strengthening. With targeted investment,
arrear clearance, and technical assistance windows, the
TSF complements other Bank financing with an
increased focus on countries facing elevated fragility
risks.
Understanding Fragility's Complex Drivers
Fragility emerges when these capacities are weak,
relative to the pressures exerted on a country or region.
Structural challenges including extreme poverty,
persistent inequality, and high unemployment often form
the foundation of fragility, intensified by external shocks
like climate change, pandemics, and geopolitical
influences.
The AfDB's approach to addressing fragility begins with
sophisticated assessment methodologies. Using
Country Resilience and Fragility Assessments (CRFAs) –
a key tool for identifying main drivers of fragility at country
and regional levels, the Bank applies a systems-based
approach, which unpacks and navigates complex
fragility scenarios, tracking pressures such as economic
and social exclusion, insecurity, and environmental risks
against available institutional capacities.
The quantitative CRFA approach is complemented by
dialogue-based Full-Fledged Fragility Assessments that
capture country-specific dynamics through extensive
stakeholder consultation. This mixed-methods approach
helps identify critical entry points for strengthening
resilience.
Addressing Root Causes
Given Africa's geographic landscape—characterized by
the high number of shared borders and significant
spillover risks from fragility and conflict — tracking
fragility at a regional level has become increasingly
crucial.
As such, regional fragility assessments now play an
integral role in shaping the Bank's multi-country
interventions, prioritizing cross-border infrastructure like
regional corridors to promote community resilience in
addressing pressures such as insecurity, marginalization,
and climate-induced vulnerabilities.
But, while conflicts often serve as entry points for
clustering and prioritizing affected regions, the Bank's
interventions remain primarily prevention-focused, with
Through targeted
investment, FRAGILE
STATES, rather than
being permanent
development challenges,
REPRESENT SIGNIFICANT
POTENTIAL as strategic
economic hubs.
emphasis on addressing root causes of fragility and
conflict, rather than simply responding to crises.
However, when crises become inevitable, the Bank
engages through regular dialogue and targeted
crises-response interventions designed to prevent
further escalation.
The Integration Nexus
The relationship between fragility and regional integration
forms a complex but critical nexus. Institutional
weaknesses, insecurity, and depleted human and
physical assets and critical infrastructure that come with
protracted fragility, pose significant barriers to
integration.
Spillover effects from localized conflicts can result in
exchange and price volatility, reduced market size, and
obstructed value chains, with lasting impact on growth
and development across the continent. Political
instability also often results in cross-border
displacement, creating refugee crises that further strain
resources.
Addressing these obstacles to trade and regional
integration are also important conditions for the effective
implementation of AfCFTA.
Fragile states, rather than being permanent development
challenges, represent significant potential as strategic
economic hubs through targeted investment and policy
harmonization which particularly leverage the AfCFTA.
Additionally, one of the three strategic priorities of the
Bank’s Fragility Strategy seeks to build resilient societies
through increased infrastructure investment in transition
states.
However, the complex nature and high cost of many
infrastructure projects makes them untenable in
transition states, even though these investments
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