I.A.M - Magazine - Page 37
LEADERS CORNER
are critical for jump-starting economic transformation.
The good news is that infrastructure development is both
a strong comparative advantage of the Bank, and an
impactful source of resilience in transition states.
Building Resilience and impact stories
Therefore, the Bank's regional approach to addressing
fragility and building resilience, specifically seeks to
prevent these challenges and reverse their momentum in
high-risk fragile regions. The new Ten-Year Strategy also
outlines precisely, how the Bank will leverage the TSF,
Climate Action Window, and Regional Envelope
to respond to global and regional challenges that
disproportionately impact transition states.
The Bank is also committing more resources to
investments
in
sovereign
and
non-sovereign
interventions at regional levels. The TSF, for example, is
directly contributing to prevention of cross-border
fragility and conflicts, therefore strengthening regional
institutions.
In addition, several more Bank initiatives have
substantially impacted fragile states. To name some, the
Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA),
which addresses gender financing gaps; the Youth
Entrepreneurship and Innovation Banks (YEIBs), which
help to tackle youth unemployment; the Desert to Power
project, which is enhancing energy access across the
Sahel and highlighting the strategic importance of green
and climate-resilient infrastructure; and regional projects
like the Lake Chad Basin Program and the Mano River
Union Road Project, which are significantly improving
cross-border trade and local economic resilience.
Strategic Investments for Peacebuilding
In terms of the core matter of security and peace building
in fragile states - while not a security institution – the
AfDB contributes to peacebuilding by addressing
economic and social drivers of conflict through strategic
investments in cross-border infrastructure, inclusive
economic opportunities, and governance programs.
To help strengthen stability-critical institutions, the
Bank's TSF has deployed over $9 billion across seven
African Development Fund (ADF) cycles. Additionally, the
Bank also maintains partnerships with the African Union,
Regional Economic Communities, and peace actors
such as the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) and the Interpeace. The Africa Resilience Forum
also serves as a key platform for dialogue on fragility,
resilience, and peace financing.
Gender
But we cannot speak of peace and stability without
touching on how women and children suffer overly during
fragility or conflict. This despite the fact that women often
drive social activities including cross-border trade, even
during instability. In recognizing this disproportionate
impact, the Bank has implemented deliberate strategies
to empower them and earlier stated, including with
initiatives such as AFAWA. Additionally, the Bank recently
developed a gender-sensitive operational guide
specifically tailored for fragile contexts, ensuring
deliberate actions and targeted interventions that
enhance economic opportunities and resilience for
women and youth. The Gender-lens therefore, is therefore
in sharp focus in all TSF Prevention Envelope.
Transformational Partnerships
In the long-term
But although Public-private partnerships (PPPs) can help
bridge financing gaps and strengthen domestic
institutions in fragile states, key challenges to PPP
implementation rise in terms of limited legal frameworks,
institutional capacity, and constrained fiscal resources.
Addressing these requires a gradual approach that builds
capacity and prioritizes high-impact, small-to-medium
PPP projects. At the Bank, our include how the TSF is
strengthening PPP ecosystems in Guinea Bissau,
Gambia, Madagascar, and Togo, and the CLSG
Interconnection Project combining public funds with
private expertise to expand electricity access in
post-conflict regions.
Peace and stability are essential for regional integration,
just as regional integration reinforces peace and stability.
However, conflicts and insecurity obstruct consensus on
designing and implementing multinational projects,
despite these projects holding the greatest potential for
addressing the root causes of instability.
With stability in place, regional integration drives
long-term development. By deepening economic
linkages, countries become more interdependent,
reducing incentives for conflict while increasing mutual
benefits.
Investing in regional integration, therefore, is not just an
economic strategy; it is a preventive measure against
fragility and conflict.
05 |
