The African Development Bank (AfDB) has called on Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and other development partners to enhance innovative partnerships and initiatives aimed at fostering peace and security across Africa, where eleven countries are among the most conflict-affected globally.
Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, AfDB's Vice-President for Regional Development, Integration, and Business Delivery, made the call while speaking at the 79th United Nations General Assembly on September 21 titled "Investing in Prevention: Scaling Up Peace – A Call to Action for DFIs."
Over the past two decades, global conflict has intensified, with one-fifth of Africa’s population living in conflict-affected regions, posing significant challenges to the continent's growth potential.
"Our objective is straightforward: we seek to mobilize institutions to prioritize peacebuilding through innovative partnerships and new financial mechanisms. This is a clarion call for action," Akin-Olugbade stated in her opening remarks.
The New Agenda for Peace, a focal point at the UN’s Summit of the Future, underscores the role of various stakeholders, including DFIs, as agents of peace. It stresses the importance of partnerships, especially in fragile and conflict-affected nations, advocating for increased political and financial mobilization to prevent future conflicts.
Amilcar Tivane, Mozambique’s Vice-Minister of Economy and Finance, shared insights on the enduring impact of a devastating civil war that lasted three decades, emphasizing the critical need for preventative measures.
He noted that the Mozambican government has developed innovative solutions to tackle the root causes of conflict and ongoing security issues in northern Mozambique, such as terrorism and insurgency. "What has proven effective is a resilience-building strategy coupled with strategic partnerships," Tivane remarked, also announcing a new peace initiative aimed at reconstructing affected tourism areas.
Issa Faye, Director General of the Islamic Development Bank ( IsDB) said his institution’s blend of ordinary and concessional financing has been key to the successful financial support for 32 fragile African countries out of the 52 they support.
The IsDB have aided thousands of refugees through programmes to address skills gap, training and education, combining economic empowerment and food security.
Faye underlined Islamic financing as a concept framing a lot of the institution’s programmes and stressed the need to find alternative financing which is dedicated, responsive and resilient.
Risk perception, another major constraint to financing peace initiatives in Africa, was the subject of Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, the Executive Secretary of the UN Capital Development Fund (UN CDF), submission. He offered a concrete example of successful de-risking of a peace initiative in Burundi.
« UN DCRF works to de-risk so that larger streams of finance can flow from the larger and more established institutions, » he said.
Since 2021, UNCDF has been working in collaboration with the UN Peacebuilding Fund and the Government of Burundi to address interconnected and transnational root-causes of instability and nature loss in the Kibara National Park and surrounding buffer zones. The joint initiative with several partners including UNESCO, uses a unique blended finance approach.
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