overcoming fragility in africa - European Report on Development

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Resilience is an important aspect of susta<strong>in</strong>able
development because a society which is unable to
adjust to change can hardly develop itself over time.
Enhanc<strong>in</strong>g the resilience of fragile countries <strong>in</strong>volves
boost<strong>in</strong>g the capacity of both <strong>in</strong>formal and formal
<strong>in</strong>stitutions to overcome shocks and navigate a path to
development and prosperity.
One promis<strong>in</strong>g avenue to build<strong>in</strong>g endur<strong>in</strong>g and
susta<strong>in</strong>able <strong>in</strong>stitutions is to employ, adapt and expand
<strong>in</strong>digenous and traditional governance <strong>in</strong>struments.
Jesse McConnell, a South African researcher who was
part of ERD’s ‘New Faces for African Development’
<strong>in</strong>itiative, explored how decentralisation and the use
of <strong>in</strong>digenous govern<strong>in</strong>g mechanisms can improve
governance <strong>in</strong> fragile countries which are either
geographically immense or ethnically diverse, or both.
“In Rwanda, they use an <strong>in</strong>digenous idea called Imihigo
which basically <strong>in</strong>volves a public commitment… to
deliver on specific targets and objectives with<strong>in</strong> a
specific time frame,” he expla<strong>in</strong>ed. McConnell found
that Imihigo “has helped create a new national identity
while <strong>in</strong>still<strong>in</strong>g a culture of service delivery and
accountability amongst its public servants and political
leadership”.