Teresa Dumasy is Head of Policy and Learning at Conciliation Resources

International development is in the news at the moment. In late January, UK Prime Minister David Cameron was in Monrovia for a meeting of the UN High Level Panel as they prepare the new generation of global development targets. Last week he was in Brussels negotiating reductions in the EU budget, with potential implications for amounts of EU development aid.

Alongside this, the Secretary of State for International Development, Justine Greening, set out the Department for International Development’s (DFID) priorities for UK aid, committing to spend in the “right places”, on the “right things” and in the “right ways”. Top priorities will be “women and girls, economic development, value for money, technology, and transparency.”

Peacebuilding and poverty reduction

During her speech, the Secretary of State rightly defended the case for sticking by the UK’s international commitment to spend 0.7% GDP on development aid – less than 1% of our national income – despite the pressures of economic austerity.

Many people and NGOs in the UK share this agenda. Making sure the aid is used most effectively and efficiently is important in any economic climate, but of prime importance now budgets are tight. Decisions on how and what to spend aid money are therefore crucial.

Poverty reduction remains the ‘irreducible core’ of DFID’s mission, yet the greatest challenge to ending extreme poverty is armed conflict and predatory, corrupt and authoritarian governments.

It is in these contexts where we have found and can expect to continue to find persistent, extreme poverty. Countries that go through conflict often experience economic impoverishment, in turn increasing the likelihood of a relapse into conflict and the beginnings of a downward spiral.

Imagining sustained development without peace in such contexts is impossible.

As the crises in Syria and Mali show, it is vitally important that aid is used to meet the profound challenges of violent conflict, which can perpetuate poverty and undermine development gains. This should be centre-stage in international development policy.  

Smart, targeted aid in the 'right way'

Smarter aid, which supports inclusive politics and conflict resolution is needed. Economic development and sustainable investment, the ultimate route out of poverty, cannot take hold without this.

David Cameron has referred to a ‘Golden Thread’ of development – the rule of law, the absence of conflict and corruption, and the presence of property rights and strong institutions. The UK should look hard at and draw lessons from experience in contexts such as Afghanistan to understand how to work more effectively for development in conflict settings.  

At Conciliation Resources we seek to build a ‘positive’, lasting peace, one which goes beyond the ‘absence of violence’. We do this by finding practical and effective ways to support people working for peace, justice and the rule of law.

Through close, collaborative and long-term partnerships with local peacebuilding partners, we direct our efforts and available funding to bring maximum benefit to the local peacebuilding partners and communities with whom we work.

At a recent workshop in the Mano River Union region, partners observed that our commitment to help them develop before, during and after a project’s life cycle is a distinctive and valued feature in our approach.

Acknowledging the effectiveness of 'right place' aid

Finally, the following should be acknowledged in any debate on the relative priority of UK development aid in relation to domestic spending, how and where it should be spent, and the questions about the effectiveness of aid:

  • It costs far more to respond to conflict than it does to prevent it, and saves lives. Investing in conflict prevention and peacebuilding is integral to development assistance.
    While humanitarian relief is essential, development assistance cannot be limited to picking up the pieces and responding to the consequences of armed conflict. The destabilising impact of the threat of violence also has knock-on effects on a country’s trade and social development, suppressing innovation and entrepreneurship and deterring investment, factors which in time help improve indicatorsand reduce dependence on emergency aid.
  • Aid should promote legitimate politics that enable political settlements and the resolution of conflicts.
    The peacebuilding and statebuilding goals in the New Deal endorse this. Good peace processes and political settlements and healthy state–society relations enable good development. We support the Secretary of State's position that budget support should be used to bolster governments who are accountable to their people.

This inherently political feature of development is often overlooked, and absent from the current Millennium Development Goals.  

  • Aid should be used to support people to find their own paths to peace and we should avoid the imposition of our own standards.
    UK engagement in Somalia demonstrates this much. UK aid should support those working for peace in a conflict setting, but with limited means to do so. It may mean no quick wins, but is more effective in the long-term. Conciliation Resources works in one of the biggest recipient countries of UK aid: Pakistan. We are seeing the value, importance and influence of local initiatives aimed at finding a peaceful resolution to long-standing conflicts. In Kashmir such initiatives are creating the conditions for peace to become possible at the inter-state level.
  • Investing in strategic partnerships with over 30 of Britain and the world's most effective and innovative NGOs is good value for money.
    These organisations have the people and the know-how to be able to make a difference. Partnerships between DFID and these organisations can help meet the Secretary of State's objectives of spending the money in the right place, on the right things and in the right way. 

Those are aims that we can all work together to implement – whether as funders, facilitators, governments or the target communities we are proud also to call our partners.

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