The issue of aid effectiveness in conflict-affected and insecure areas is receiving increased attention within the development community. The Paris Declaration on Aid EffectivenessPrinciples for Good International Engagement in Fragile States and Situations and the recent Accra Agenda for Action signal donor and recipient commitment to improve the effectiveness of aid. Conflict-affected countries often present aid-effectiveness challenges that require special attention—but what does this mean for countries affected by mines and explosive remnants of war? This article examines recent developments, highlighting some implications for mine action

Naidoo, Sharmala

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James Madison University

Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction Volume 13 Issue 3 The Journal of ERW and Mine Action Article 3 November 2009 Aid Effectiveness in Insecure Areas Sharmala Naidoo Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal  Part of the Defense and Security Studies Commons, Emergency and Disaster Management Commons, Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons, and the Peace and Conflict Studies Commons Recommended Citation Naidoo, Sharmala (2009) "Aid Effectiveness in Insecure Areas," The Journal of ERW and Mine Action : Vol. 13 : Iss. 3 , Article 3. Available at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal/vol13/iss3/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for International Stabilization and Recovery at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction by an authorized editor of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact dc_admin@jmu.edu. 6         focus | the journal of ERW and mine action | fall 2009 | 13.3 13.3 | fall 2009 | the journal of ERW and mine action | focus         7FOCUSIn March 2005, over 100 donors and de-veloping countries convened in Paris to reform the international aid system and make it more effective in addressing global pov-erty. The previous aid system, in place since at least the 1960s, had changed over time, mainly because of its problems and lack of effectiveness. The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness1 was issued in an attempt to rectify the flaws and em-phasize the need to “increase the impact of aid … in reducing poverty and inequality, increas-ing growth, building capacity, and accelerating the achievement of the Millennium Develop-ment Goals.”1 The Paris Declaration established five prin-ciples to shape aid delivery:1. Ownership: Developing countries set their own development policies and strategies, while donors support capacity develop-ment and institution building. 2. Alignment: Donor assistance should be consistent with the national priorities outlined in developing countries’ devel-opment strategies.3. Harmonization: Donors coordinate their aid activities. 4. Managing for results: Developing coun-tries and donors focus more on the impact Aid Effectiveness in Insecure Areas by Sharmala Naidoo [ Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining ]The issue of aid effectiveness in conflict-affected and insecure areas is receiving in-creased attention within the development community. The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness,1 Principles for Good International Engagement in Fragile States and Sit-uations2 and the recent Accra Agenda for Action3 signal donor and recipient commit-ment to improve the effectiveness of aid. Conflict-affected countries often present aid-effectiveness challenges that require special attention—but what does this mean for countries affected by mines and explosive remnants of war? This article examines recent developments, highlighting some implications for mine action.of aid on people’s lives and create better ways to measure impact.5. Mutual accountability: Developing coun-tries and donors are more transparent in the use and impact of aid to their citizens and parliaments. The Paris Declaration recognized that aid-effectiveness principles apply to conflict-affected and insecure areas but require adaptation, partic-ularly where local ownership and capacity are weak. A recent report by the Afghanistan Re-search and Evaluation Unit4 reinforces this message. It concludes that the Afghan context poses unique challenges to aid-effectiveness principles, including continued insecurity, limited capacity, competing agendas, corrup-tion, lack of coordination, and lack of clarity among military, humanitarian and develop-ment interventions.4In 2007, the Organisation for European Eco-nomic Co-operation Development Assistance Group released Principles for Good Internation-al Engagement in Fragile States and Situations2 (hereinafter, the Principles). The Principles calls on donors to ensure conflict-sensitive aid, whole-of-government approaches5 and policy coherence6 in the political, security and devel-opment spheres. The Principles also encourages donors to link aid to the wider agen-das of peace-building, conflict pre-vention and state-building. More recently, developing coun-tries and donors met in Accra in 2008 to review progress on aid re-form, and they issued the Accra Agenda for Action.7 The AAA em-phasizes the following when engag-ing in conflict-affected areas:•	 Conduct joint donor assess-ments (governance, capacity) and conflict analyses •	 Promote flexible, rapid and long-term funding modalities on a pooled basis •	 Link aid to broader peace- and state-building processes•	 Strengthen the capacity of states to deliver core functions •	 Work with local communities and civil-society organizations, particularly where government capacity is weak or non-existent as a result of conflictPost-conflict Implications In order to maximize contribu-tions to relief, recovery and stabili-zation efforts, donor coordination and harmonization are vital in mine/ERW-affected countries like Afghanistan, Somaliland, Sri Lanka and Sudan. Where possible, sup-port for mine action should be aligned with national government plans and procedures. During and immediately after conflicts, mine action often plays an important role in facilitating peace-keeping and humanitarian access, as well as enabling the delivery of es-sential goods and services. It can also make important contributions to building peace, reducing armed vio-lence and strengthening the capacity of state institutions. In such contexts, donors should ensure that support for mine action contributes to broad-er peace-building, armed-violence reduction and institution-building processes, where appropriate. One example of how mine action played an important role in build-ing confidence was between the gov-ernment of Sudan and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army in 2002 when a locally-brokered ceasefire was negotiated, leading to a tri-partite Memorandum of Understanding among the government of Sudan, the SPLA and the United Nations. Fol-lowing 30 years of conflict, this was the first time leaders from opposing sides in Sudan signed a nationwide agreement. The MoU allowed for emergency demining of key routes between North and South Sudan in the Nuba mountains. The United Nations Mine Action Service, in as-sociation with DanChurchAid and two Sudanese nongovernmental or-ganizations—Sudanese Association for Combating Landmines and Op-eration Save Innocent Lives—joint-ly trained 15 people from both sides as deminers. Community members from both sides were involved in assisting the deminers with clear-ing vegetation in exchange for food through a World Food Programme food-for-work scheme. The value of humanitarian weap-ons abatement was apparent in 2008 when Mines Advisory Group started working with the Burundian police, Police Nationale Burundaise, in sup-port of Burundi’s civilian disarma-ment campaign. A mixed MAG-PNB mobile team collected and destroyed small arms/light weapons previ-ously handed over by the popula-tion or seized by the PNB. As part of Burundi’s implementation of the Nairobi Protocol for the Preven-tion, Control and Reduction of Small Arms and Light Weapons in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa,8 MAG conducted a survey of the PNB SA/LW sites in June 2009. This survey led to a comprehen-sive physical-security and stockpile management project in 2009 with MAG and the PNB which, parallel A minefield in Bosnia prevents land use long after the conflict has ended.ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF GICHD1Naidoo: Aid Effectiveness in Insecure AreasPublished by JMU Scholarly Commons, 20098         focus | the journal of ERW and mine action | fall 2009 | 13.3 13.3 | fall 2009 | the journal of ERW and mine action | focus         9to the marking of weapons, focuses on collecting and destroying surplus and obsolete SA/LW, as well as im-proving the physical security of po-lice weapons stores. It also focuses on strengthening the capacity of the PNB in weapons and ammunition accountability and safe storage.9,10,11 The project is ongoing with comple-tion expected in April 2010.A final example of the aid effec-tiveness is seen with Danish De- mining Group’s active involvement in efforts to reduce armed violence. In Somaliland, DDG is working with local communities and peace-building organizations to reduce the demand for SA/LW and enhance community safety. As previous at-tempts to forcibly disarm commu-nities have failed, DDG is focusing on training local communities in conflict-management and conflict-resolution techniques, safe storage of SA/LW and ammunition, under-taking mine/ERW clearance and de-struction and building trust between communities and the police.12 In Somaliland, where state structures remain weak, strengthening the ca-pacity of communities and civil-society organizations is critical. ConclusionDonors face increasing challenges in delivering aid effectively in coun-tries affected by mines and ERW. Re-cently, several strategies including the Paris Declaration, the Principles and the AAA have encouraged donors to take a wider look at the unique is-sues encountered in delivering aid to conflict-affected and insecure areas. In order to maximize the benefits of relief, recovery and stabilization ef-forts, donors are encouraged to con-duct joint assessments, promote flexible funding modalities, work in harmonization with local govern-ments and communities, and look at the wider agendas of conflict preven-tion, state-building and peace-build-ing in war-torn areas. In maximizing Currently serving as Project Manager for the Linking Mine Action and Development project at GICHD, Sharmala Naidoo has previously worked with Saferworld and Amnesty International. She spent several years in Zimbabwe, working with local human-rights and development NGOs. Prior to this, she worked for the Canadian Foreign Ministry. Naidoo holds a Mas-ter of Arts in public administration from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.Sharmala NaidooProject ManagerLinking Mine Action and Development ProjectGeneva International Centre forHumanitarian Demining7 bis, Avenue de la PaixPO Box 13001211 Geneva 1 / SwitzerlandTel: +41 22 906 83 22Fax: +41 22 906 16 90E-mail: s.naidoo@gichd.orgWeb site: http://www.gichd.org/lmadA MAG deminer working in Sudan.aid effectiveness, donors can make valuable contributions toward peace-building, strengthening local govern-ment institutions, reducing violence, countering poverty and facilitating the coordination of humanitarian access in communities affected by mines/ERW.Making aid effective in conflict-affected countries is clearly chal-lenging. However, enhanced donor coordination, harmonization and support for broader peace-building, armed-violence reduction, and insti-tution-building initiatives are all vital, and they can go a long way to improving safety and reducing poverty in communities affected by mines/ERW. See Endnotes, Page 77 It is a well-known fact that the region of Southeast Europe is heavily contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance. Many mine-action centers in the region were established immediately after conflicts end-ed in the SEE countries. Mine action in Bosnia and Herzegovina started in 1996, and 13 years later, demining authorities there have grown into highly respectable organizations with the knowledge and ability to assist mine-action cen-ters outside the region of Southeast Europe. Still, demining is a continuous effort requiring con-stant development and improvement. To improve demining methods, specifically the use of mine-detection dogs, the members of the South-Eastern Europe Mine Action Co-ordination Council agreed that, due to the ex-tensive and pioneering use of mine–detection dogs in Bosnia since early 1996, it would be ap-propriate for Bosnia to host a mine–detection dog center for the Balkans region.1,2 SEEMACC is a technical body established as an integral facilitator of regional cooperation and inter-regional projects through its expertise and knowledge of mine action within the region. The group promotes an integrated regional ap-proach to planning demining activities, fund-raising and establishing demining standards, as well as the installation of a forum in which to exchange ideas on the training of personnel. Besides being an important facilitator of re-As the refinement of mine-detection methods becomes more important, the Mine Detection Dog Center for South East Europe is answering the call, training dogs and handlers for effective detection. Working with animals is not easy, but the MDDC has been very successful in its operations. The organization focuses on regional coopera-tion, and has worked in areas such as Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq, where it has proved to be an effective asset to mine detection and clearance. gional cooperation, the MDDC also initiated the creation of the region’s Humanitarian De-mining Standard chapter covering the use of mine-detection dogs.3Regional Training ProjectsThe Global Training Academy, located in San Antonio, Texas, United States, provided initial training to MDDC with the sponsorship of a grant by the Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs in the U.S. Department of State (now the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement) in 2003. The U.S. State Department also funded the operational costs of the MDDC and facili-ties construction/improvements through the In-ternational Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance in Slovenia until the MDDC became financially self-supporting in 2006. Co-operation with the ITF and the Marshall Lega-cy Institute in the United States has resulted in many successful projects. It is worth mention-ing a few of the most important regional train-ing projects, including those at the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action and the Leb-anon Mine Action Center. The MDDC has trained a total of 16 mine-detection dogs and teams from March 2006–June 2009 for ANAMA, along with 10 mine-detection-dog teams for the LMAC; the Marshall Legacy Institute pro-vided the majority of the funds for purchasing and training the dogs. Regional Cooperation:              MDDC for SE Europeby Marija Trlin [ Mine Detection Dog Center for South East Europe ]2Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction, Vol. 13, Iss. 3 [2009], Art. 3https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal/vol13/iss3/3

Aid Effectiveness in Insecure Areas

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Aid Effectiveness in Insecure Areas

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