The ‘New Deal’ for engagement in fragile states

Despite steadily increasing inflows of official development assistance (ODA), fragile and conflict-affected states lag considerably behind other developing countries in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the 2015 target. Fragility and armed conflicts have seriously undermined their development. At the Fourth High-level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea in 2011, the g7+, a group of the world's most fragile and conflict-affected states, proposed a major change in the way the international donor community engaged with them.

The g7+ states argued that five self-defined peace-building and state-building goals (PSGs) were prerequisites for their transition from fragility to resilience (stability), and for their subsequent achievement of the MDGs. Their 'New Deal' framework is therefore based on these five PSGs, as well as on donor alignment with country-led and country-owned tools. It also relies on shared principles and commitments to attain these goals. The new framework challenges traditional donor-led development concepts, but has since been endorsed by more then 40 countries and international organisations, including the EU. Five pilot countries from the g7+ group are at varying stages of implementing the New Deal.

ESO: Background information: EU development cooperation in fragile states: Challenges and opportunities http://www.europeansources.info/record/eu-development-cooperation-in-fragile-states-challenges-and-opportunities/

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