Donor Policy

International actors are now focusing on development as a means to establish security. As a consequence development agencies and donors have made peace and security central concerns of their development-cooperation efforts. Development objectives such as poverty reduction or good governance have moved from being objectives in their own right to also being part of an effective global peace and security strategy. In addition to that development agencies have put a greater emphasis on making their own policies more conflict sensitive.

More emphasis on governance

Policy documents from bilateral organisations and multilateral donors reveal three overlapping objectives which are believed to improve governance and prevent conflict: institution building; security sector reform; and the rule of law. Rebuilding state institutions and enhancing their administrative capacity as a means to achieving good governance has become an important commitment for development cooperation. Transparency, accountability and an effective management of the security sector is crucial as the role of the state and its security forces have an impact on the opportunities for sustainable development as well as peoples’ security. Judicial and legal reforms aimed at establishing, or in some cases re-establishing, the rule of law is also seen to be important for the building and maintaining a stable of peaceful society, which is a necessary condition for both security and development. Recommended reading...

Conflict senstive development policies

Donors have also become increasingly aware that their poverty reduction and development strategies can have positive and negative effects on conflict dynamics. As a consequence they have recognised the importance of developing poverty reduction strategies which are sensitive to the conflict environment and which consider the underlying causes of conflict. Recommended reading...