19 June 2014: The African Development Bank (AfDB) will implement a strategy for addressing fragility and building resilience in Africa for the period 2014-2019. The strategy takes a regional approach to fragility, focusing on fragile situations, rather than fragile States. Its conceptual approach recognizes that fragility can have spillover effects, jeopardizing the development of whole regions.

The strategy was approved by the Board of Executive Directors on 16 June 2014 and is outlined in a document titled ‘Addressing Fragility and Building Resilience in Africa (2014-2019).’ According to Sibry Tapsoba, director of AfDB’s Fragile States Department, “there is no predefined toolbox to address fragility and build resilience in Africa.” AfDB will engage in a process of “learning by doing,” jointly with its regional member countries, private sector and civil society.

In addition to engagement across sectors and States, the strategy will focus on four high-risk regions: the Horn of Africa; the Sahel; the Mano River Union and the Great Lakes; and Central Africa. The strategy builds on the discussions at the AfDB Group’s Annual Meetings of May 2014, where the roles of institutional capacity, leadership and politics were emphasized in considering the multiple sources of fragility.

The strategy is part of AfDB’s effort to ensure the growth and transformation Africa has experienced over the last decade is not reversed by threats such as social exclusion and poverty, unemployment, climate change and poor natural resource management. AfDB’s Ten Year Strategy (2013–2022) serves as the foundation for the strategy, which replaces the 2008 ‘Strategy for Enhanced Engagement in Fragile States.’ [AfDB Press Release] [AfDB Strategy: Addressing Fragility and Building Resilience in Africa (2014-2019)]