USAID Fragile States Strategy - The Air University

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• Modifying reporting requirements sothey are appropriate for conditions incrisis countries.• Increasing flexibility within theoverall budget to move funds torespond to changing priorities withinand across countries. Consistent withthe goal of aligning funding sourceswith foreign assistance goals as acountry shifts from being a transformationaldevelopment countryto a more fragile status, the Agencycould shift to funds designatedfor fragile states. USAID will seekboth to improve the use of existingresources in fragile states andgreater flexibility for those funds,for example, removing restrictionssuch as earmarks and expanding thetimeframe available to obligate funds.To improve the implementation ofprograms overseas, actions include thefollowing:• Increasing the capacity of regionalmissions to service nearby fragilestates, especially those with difficultenvironments. These regionalplatforms would allow staff to getcloser to problem areas without beingsubjected to the hardships of living ininsecure environments fulltime.8 Fragile States Quick Response Teams are notintended to supplant Disaster Assistance Teams(DARTs) or other mechanisms designed torespond to humanitarian crises. Of course, theremay be occasions when a fragile state is alsofacing a humanitarian crisis. In those instances, itis expected that these teams will work togetherclosely, if not merge.• Developing the capacity to deployand support Fragile States Quick ResponseTeams 8 for those few instanceswhen 1) USAID will need to establishan immediate and robust fieldpresence in response to a major crisis,and 2) missions require additionalsupport to respond to fragility. Theseteams would ensure that situationsare analyzed and strategies developedto address the political, security,economic, and social deficiencies thatcontribute to a state’s fragility.Critical reforms are also needed in theAgency’s management and administrativefunctions, especially procurement andhuman resources. Options include• tailoring procurement systems suchas contracting mechanisms to thedemands of fragile state environmentsand enhancing the flexibility to contractregionally and locally• seeking “notwithstanding” authorityin specific, limited cases to expediteimplementationWithin the personnel system, a numberof initiatives are currently underway:• USAID has just established a newforeign service backstop for workin conflict situations, and will needto aggressively expand its efforts torecruit, assign, and promote officersworking in these challenging situations.Providing appropriate trainingand incentives for working in fragilestates will be critical to this effort.• The Agency is expanding its on-callreserve capacity of experts on contractto bring the requisite technical,country, and language skills necessaryfor both rapid and effective response.• USAID is examining means fordeploying its talented foreign servicenational staff to fragile states.Exercise Leadership andAdvance Partnerships in theU.S. Government and DonorCommunityWithin the U.S. Government, a systematicplan and processes for monitoringfragility and developing effectivestrategies are currently being developedby S/CRS. USAID is a key participantin these interagency efforts focused onmonitoring and contingency planning.In addition, USAID will also likelyplay a major operational role for S/CRSonce it actively engages in coordinatingpostconflict response in a limitednumber of high-priority countries.USAID is also exploring the use of theJoint State-USAID Policy Council as aforum for coordinating assistance in thebroader range of countries where S/CRSis not engaged. More broadly, USAIDis working closely with the Departmentof State on the reform agenda for fragilestates, and with both the departmentsof State and Defense on security sectormatters. USAID will also consult moreclosely with the Department of Treasuryon fragile states concerns relatedto trade, debt relief, and internationalfinancial institutions.Within the donor community, a clearconsensus has emerged around thenecessity to respond more effectively tofragile states. Doing so requires donorsto better understand what is requiredto arrest negative trends, the limits ofabsorptive capacity, and the necessityof harmonizing policies and sequencinginterventions. The Development AssistanceCommittee of the Organisationfor Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD/DAC) has played alead role in bringing together interested10 FRAGILE STATES STRATEGY
ilateral and multilateral donors, includingthe United Nations and WorldBank, to develop better policies andresponses to fragile states. The DAChas also been leading an effort to forgeinternational consensus on an approachto security sector reform. USAID hasbeen closely involved in these efforts,and will continue to seek partnershipsand position itself to provide leadershipamong donors to accelerate research onassistance strategies to advance lastingrecovery in fragile states.ConclusionFragile states have long posed a problemfor the United States and are nowrecognized as a source of our nation’smost pressing security threats. Drivenby a dramatically changed landscape,responding more effectively to fragilestates has moved to the center of theforeign aid agenda.USAID has extensive experience infragile states, but clearly a more strategicapproach is necessary. This strategy setsout a vision for USAID’s response tofragile states, including those in postconflictsituations where conditions donot provide sufficient foundation forlong-term development. Given theirclear differences from stable developingcountries, fragile states require newways of conceptualizing, delivering, andevaluating the impact of assistance.This new strategy responds to the challenge posed to U.S.national security by acknowledging the importance anddifficulties of addressing the problems posed by fragilestates and offering a vision for meeting those challenges.sources of fragility and for setting priorities—stability,security, reform, andcapacity— appropriate to the realitiesof fragile states. It calls for early actionwhen fragile states show vulnerability.It also calls for a focused responsewith programs strategically oriented tothe sources and symptoms of fragility.Finally, the strategy offers an operationalapproach—a fragile states businessmodel—that provides for rationalstrategic planning, budgetary flexibility,responsive administrative systems, andgreater staff expertise. Guided by committedleadership, the strategy providesa roadmap for USAID, as part of abroader U.S. Government effort, to respondmore effectively to the enormouschallenges posed by fragile states.This new strategy responds to the challengeposed to U.S. national securityby acknowledging the importance anddifficulty of addressing the problemsposed by fragile states and offering avision for meeting those challenges. Itcalls for a better understanding of theFRAGILE STATES STRATEGY 11
Page 2 and 3: Cover photo: Gjakova, Kosovo, 2000.
Page 5: ContentsForeword. . . . . . . . . .
Page 8 and 9: a broad range of agencies and actor
Page 10 and 11: suffering. The most significant sho
Page 12 and 13: Table 1. Analyzing Governance in Fr
Page 14 and 15: tional arrangements that conditions
Page 16 and 17: Table 3. Illustrative Programmatic
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Page 22 and 23: moribund. The internal developmento
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Page 26 and 27: • Infrastructure deficits in many
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