Global Fragility Act country strategies to come this year: official

The U.S. government is likely to submit to Congress specific strategies for the five countries and regions selected for Global Fragility Act implementation “sometime this year,” according to Anne Witkowsky, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, or CSO. The law, meant to revolutionize the U.S. approach to conflict-affected and fragile states by adopting a prevention approach to head off conflict, was passed in 2019. But it has faced years of bureaucratic delays and the executive branch has missed multiple Congressionally-mandated deadlines. CSO and its counterparts in the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Defense are working with U.S. embassies and partner governments to develop the strategies as required by the law, Witkowsky said in an interview. “In all the selections there is an element of prevention somewhere along the spectrum that we will be focused on.” --— Anne Witkowsky, assistant secretary of state, Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations “Our posts are already in different ways beginning that consultation process,” Witkowsky told Devex. “The development of the implementation plans will be field-led under strategic guidance from Washington.” The administration is working with Congress, briefing members on the Hill, and taking their input on how the GFA should be implemented, she said. The GFA directs the administration to pilot the new approach in five countries and regions, announced last month but originally due by law in September 2020. Also expected in Congress that month was a Global Fragility Strategy outlining the executive branch’s approach, a deadline that was also missed before the Trump administration ultimately released it in December of that year. The Biden administration selected Haiti, Libya, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, and the West African countries of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, and Togo. Witkowsky said the administration used a number of criteria to select the best fit for GFA implementation, including qualitative and quantitative assessments, as well as a consultative process with civil society, Congress, and potential partner countries. The countries have a “wide variety of challenges” that could benefit from a new U.S. strategy, Witkowsky said. “In all the selections there is an element of prevention somewhere along the spectrum that we will be focused on. The law and the strategy has a prevention focus,” she said. “We understand that there is greater opportunity for impact when one is taking a prevention lens, and also opportunity to save resources down the line. If one waits too long it becomes much more difficult to intervene and can also be much more expansive.” In Haiti, for example, that involves addressing the influence of gangs, she said. In addition to CSO, which is leading GFA implementation in coordination with USAID and DOD, Witkowsky said the National Security Council has an important role to play. “Big policy questions” can be discussed at the NSC, which has convening authority across the U.S. government, she said, and can provide insight into the White House’s priorities. The fact that the GFA mandates 10-year prevention strategies can help the current and future administrations to “stay the course” despite external and political pressures that can often intervene in U.S. foreign policy, Witkowsky said. She hopes that lessons learned can also be applied in countries that haven’t been selected for the pilot but could still benefit from a new approach in fragile contexts. The law allows the government to adapt programs and interventions when they aren’t working. This is a big culture shift, she said. “We need to be humble. And we do approach this undertaking … with considerable humility. We know that as we move forward — and we’re at the front end of this — we’re going to do some things where we think we need course correction,” Witkowsky said. “In the U.S. government, in my experience, we do conduct lessons learned studies. We understand where our failures are, and we understand where our successes are. The hard piece of this is taking the lessons of the successes and the failures and actually applying them, and I think we’re very mindful of that aspect of this going forward.”