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New level of coordination needed for international development efforts
by Huguette Labelle, Canadian International Development Agency
September 18, 1996; Canadian FundRaiser
It has long been said, not without good reason, that "development is the new name for peace." The pressing need to prevent and contain conflicts now faces us with new urgency and cannot be denied. The events that concern us are admittedly far from new, but we are barely beginning to gauge their true scope and realize their threat to long-range, sustainable development activities.
We are all familiar with the tragic examples of internal national conflict that have swept away decades of sustained development effort in a few weeks or months. Africa's experience in this regard has been particularly agonizing, and the situation in several countries there continues to cause serious concern. Given the permeability of Africa's boundaries, internal conflicts and the resulting flow of migration are destabilizing factors at the regional level as well. These tragic situations highlight the necessity for regional or continental co-operation through organizations such as the Organization for African Unity, and the urgency of reconsidering the dogma of absolute sovereignty of nations and the intangible principle of non-interference in their domestic affairs. These are my only comments on the political dimension of the problem that concerns us.
Official Development Assistance and conflict prevention

It was once easy to maintain that East-West rivalry was expressed through developing countries. The end of the Cold War forces us to go far beyond this simplistic and reductionist analysis. We are finding that nations have very long memories and that conflicts are often the expression of age-old hatreds. By its very nature, development assistance, properly understood and based on an enlightened analysis of various realities, is precisely conducive to promoting conflict prevention. Of course, we must not see it as a panacea and thus neglect other political and diplomatic means to which governments have access.
In recent decades, however, official development assistance has undoubtedly helped defuse numerous conflicts that might have erupted here and there in various hot spots of the world. The paradox is that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate the effectiveness of this type of intervention.
Development co-operation has a leading role to play in dealing with this problem, since conflicts facing various segments of the population in developing countries are ultimately rooted in poverty, social injustice, and the inability to develop peacefully. These conflicts are often the result of unchecked population growth (a key factor), the struggle for access to increasingly limited resources, and the failure to meet basic needs - all problems that official development assistance has a mandate to help resolve. Earlier this year, Canada decided to allocate one quarter of its official development assistance to these basic needs.
We have, of course, implemented activities in the areas of health, education, and drinking water supply for a long time. I am convinced, however, that integrating these various projects into a framework which lays the foundations for sustainable development and establishes a climate conducive to conflict prevention, will enable us to increase both the consistency and the benefits of our activities.
Democratic development, human rights, and good governance

While Africa has experienced a downslide, in recent years, and numerous tragedies have represented a giant step backward in terms of development, the picture is far from being entirely negative. The economic and political reforms based on democratic principles, as well as more transparent governance-reforms sought by the people of Africa themselves - reflect the desire for development based on greater social cohesiveness and participation by citizens in decisions that concern them.
These are not values or concepts inspired by the West or imposed by donors who are prisoners of a narrow ideological view of reality. While many countries have undertaken to reform their style of government, planned economics, or excessive military spending, this is not because of unbearable pressure from donors but, first and foremost, because their own people demanded it. This having been said, it is up to the countries concerned to choose how to implement a process based on universal aspirations.
Since these factors inevitably form part of the logic of sustainable development, which assumes conflict prevention, we have given them growing importance in our official development assistance in recent years. We do not consider Africa a special region in this regard, and have designed similar projects for every region in which we are involved. Naturally, we have made an effort to adapt them to the situation in the field. We have supported the electoral process in numerous countries, especially Haiti, where we have also launched a vast human rights advocacy project as well as helping to train the Haitian police. We have created a fund to support gender equity policies throughout Central America. We have established another fund to support dialogue and development in the Middle East. We have launched a project in the Philippines to prepare women to play a more active role in the political life of their own country. We have also implemented a regional project in West Africa to promote democracy and human rights, and, more recently, we launched a major project to support the strengthening of groups and associations within civil society in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali.
Evolution of relationships towards institution-building

South Africa's experience in conflict prevention is definitely worth analyzing. When Canada designed its first Official Development Assistance program for this country in 1985, it attached central importance to promoting human rights, training black South Africans to prepare them to participate fully in the life of a non-racial society, and implementing various other initiatives in education (such as adult literacy), co-operation with labour organizations, and support for businesses run by Blacks.
As the situation in the field began to change in the early 1990s, Canada implemented various measures to support the electoral process. Starting in 1993, we sought to build the African National Congress's capacities to negotiate with the Government of South Africa in various areas, including education, the economy, and public administration. Generally speaking, our relations with the anti-apartheid movement, which were formerly characterized by traditional ties of dependence between donor and recipient, gradually evolved toward capacity and institution building, essential elements in a conflict prevention process.
We also feel that greater participation by local communities in managing their own priorities is directly in line with conflict prevention. This policy includes managing land tenure systems and arbitrating resource allocation. In addition, activities designed to improve the status of women are not only imperative in terms of human dignity and the effectiveness of development strategies, but also a vital element of any conflict prevention process. The advancement of women can take many forms: creating credit and savings unions; reforming land tenure systems; training women for leadership positions; and so on. In Africa, women's groups generally encompass several ethnic groups and constitute unifying agents of change rather than a source of discord among various social groups.
There are other, more specialized projects implemented by Canada directly related to the problem of conflict: a project to support awareness and national reconciliation in Mali; financial support for the OAU's effort to develop a conflict prevention, management, and resolution mechanism; and a project to train Francophone African journalists in journalism in a democracy.
An open North-South dialogue important

These are some conditions for effective support by bilateral and multilateral donors for the processes under way in various countries. Programs and projects must first be based on far more detailed and in-depth knowledge of the realities of each country. This assumes an open dialogue with numerous representatives of civil society and public authorities in recipient countries with representatives of regional institutions. This is the North South dimension of this process, as such. If we learn to consult all segments of the population better, we will be more able to help strengthen the social fabric of the countries where we are involved. We must also ensure better coordination with other donors - North-North coordination - and with international organizations. In short, using Canada's official development assistance to prevent conflicts assumes a combined bilateral, multilateral, and international approach.
Some development assistance budgets are currently at a standstill for many reasons, and an increasing share of funding is being allocated to emergency humanitarian assistance, because Canadians want us to act first to help people who are victims of wither natural or man-made disasters. These resources are consequently unavailable for long-term development activities. We must take this dichotomy into consideration and ensure that our development assistance is as sound and effective as possible.
Based on a presentation to the International Francophone Meeting on Conflict Prevention: An African Perspective, in Ottawa, Ontario.