Speakers Spotlight Role of Regional Development Banks to Foster Development, Resilience in Conflict-Affected Countries, as Peacebuilding Commission Holds Annual Session

Speakers Spotlight Role of Regional Development Banks to Foster Development, Resilience in Conflict-Affected Countries, as Peacebuilding Commission Holds Annual Session

The Peacebuilding Commission held its annual session today with a theme on partnerships and a special focus on regional development banks.

Opening the session as Chair, Muhammad Abdul Muhith (Bangladesh) said Commission members have repeatedly underlined the critical importance of strengthening partnerships with international and regional financial institutions given their strong regional focus and unique position to fill the development gap and reduce multidimensional risks.

Yero Baldeh, Director of the Transition States Coordination Office of the African Development Bank (AfDB), shared that AfDB is strengthening its partnerships with humanitarian, development and peace actors. Through directing an increasing share of its resources to reach these groups, AfDB recognizes the importance of placing people at the centre of its interventions. Development and peace can only be achieved when local stakeholders are empowered, he emphasized.

Syed Husain Quadri, Director of the Resilience and Social Development Departmentof theIslamic Development Bank, presented an overview of its multi-regional operations. Its policy for fragility and resilience focuses on investing in prevention, transition from relief to development, supporting recovery and resilience and mobilizing resources for resilience. The Bank, he noted, will be collaborating along the humanitarian-development-peace nexus to support States affected by crises.

Lesley Lahm, Representative, Asian Development Bank (ADB), said ADB has contributed to building that region's infrastructure and human capacity in key development sectors,over the past 56 years. Released in May 2021, ADB's enhanced approach aims to understand the multidimensional nature of fragility and resilience to develop appropriate responses. This work complements national and international peacebuilding through the formulation of countrypartnership strategies with development partners and each member country, she added.

Fernanco Quevedo, General Manager of the Country Department for Central America, Haiti, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), spotlighted IDB's pioneering approaches with fragile situations throughout the region. It is currently developing its first strategic framework with strengthened partnerships and strategic cooperation with other international financial institutions, bilateral parties and the United Nations as a key pillar.

Elizabeth Spehar, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support in the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, underscored the need for a stronger focus on prevention. Sensitive, tailored approaches which understand root causes and work at the community are vital as are data-sharing, joint analyses and assessments, she stressed.

Thomas Djurhuus, Lead Partnership Specialist for the Middle East and North Africa Region at the World Bank Group, said the Bank has been working on new and innovative approaches on operations, analytics and financing since the launch of its fragility, conflict and violence strategy. It has deployed more than $30 billion and introduced a new prevention and resilience allocation, in complementarity with the United Nations, to incentivize Governments in fragile States to proactively address risks and grievances which could lead to conflict and violence. As the path out of fragility is non-linear, no institution can lift or address such immense challenges on its own, he emphasized.

In the ensuing discussion, delegates highlighted the important role of regional financial institutions with many emphasizing the need for adequate and predictable financing for peacebuilding activities. Several also called for more integrated and strategic coordination with the United Nations, especially at the country level, as others offered their prescriptions for the Commission.

As voluntary contributions are no longer sufficient, the multilateral system must be prepared to activate partnerships that support peace efforts in political, technical and financial fields, the representative for the Dominican Republic said. Maintaining peace is a shared responsibility for which States must explore all opportunities to make the most of available resources, unblock financial flows and ensure integrated approaches on the ground.

Investing in peacebuilding is the right and smart thing to do, the Netherlands' speaker echoed. The Assembly's Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) should allocate at least $50 million in assessed contributions to the Peacebuilding Fund, she urged as her colleague from Germany welcomed the Committee's efforts to find a solution. Development spending must be peace-positive as a whole, she added. For investments to have a positive impact, design and implementation must be accompanied by dialogues with local communities to address grievances and identify priorities.

While the Peacebuilding Fund and the Commission have an important role to play in coordination, they must resist the temptation to become yet another development agency competing for development finance, Brazil's speaker cautioned. Their comparative advantage is that they can arrive early and bring resources.

The Peacebuilding Fund, Japan's delegate suggested, should use this ability and flexibility to provide seed money and catalyse resources for peacebuilding. As an ideal forum for all relevant entities, the Commission can review the Fund's projects, draw attention to further needs and engage with regional development banks to make financing sustainable.

The representative of the Gambia encouraged the Commission to place predictable financing for sustaining peace at the top of its agenda. "If we build peace, we must be able to sustain peace," he said, adding: "The Commission has the potential to do more if only we are ready to convert innovative ideas into realities."

Also speaking today were the representatives of Latvia, Portugal, United Kingdom, Canada, Egypt, Thailand, Kenya, Costa Rica, United States, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, Russian Federation, South Africa, Colombia, Pakistan, Ethiopia and France, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The Peacebuilding Commission will reconvene at a date and time to be announced.

Opening Remarks

MUHAMMAD ABDUL MUHITH (Bangladesh), Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, emphasized the special focus on regional development banks within this annual session's theme on partnerships. Commission members, he said, have repeatedly underlined the critical importance of strengthening partnerships with international and regional financial institutions given their strong regional focus and unique position to fill the development gap and reduce multidimensional risks. In the past, the Commission has frequently invited regional banks to share their perspectives and has partnered with the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) through their respective strategies. The World Bank Group and the IMF, he added, have also been increasingly coordinating and sharing lessons with regional development banks that are forming differentiated approaches geared to peacebuilding in their respective regions. Recalling General Assembly resolution 76/305 on financing for peacebuilding, he said today's meeting will lead to the exchange of ideas, views and best practices in enhancing partnership with regional banks as well as cross-regional cooperation among international financial institutions.

Briefings

YERO BALDEH, Director, Transition States Coordination Office, African Development Bank (AfDB), said that as the world experiences a concerning rise in conflict, he is encouraged by how the peacebuilding and development finance communities are increasingly coming together to tackle the challenge jointly. The General Assembly's recent approval of resolution 76/305 on financing for peacebuilding is a landmark. This year the AfDB approved its third "Strategy for Addressing Fragility and Building Resilience in Africa". The approach focuses on the drivers of fragility and the sources of resilience. "Over the past 20 years, the Bank learnt to consider fragility and resilience as two sides of the same coin," he said.

AfDB is strengthening its partnerships with humanitarian, development and peace actors, and directing an increasing share of its resources to reach these groups. For example, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have become key partners. It is essential to focus attention and resources at the community level to create wealth for people and consolidate existing peace dividends. He pointed to the Mano River region and efforts to prevent radicalization and violent extremism. AfDB recognizes the importance of placing people at the centre of its interventions and it has created dedicated financing facilities that link people's entrepreneurial initiative to knowledge, funding and markets. For instance, the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa provides financing for women-led businesses and AfBD is setting up Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks to reach youth in these environments. "We firmly believe that development and peace can only be achieved when local stakeholders are empowered," he said.

SYED HUSAIN QUADRI, Director of the Resilience and Social Development Department, Islamic Development Bank, presented an overview of its multi-regional operations across 4 continents and 57 member countries, 30 of which are in fragile situations. Nearly 68 per cent of the world's displaced people are from member countries, he noted while adding that of the top 12 refugee-hosting countries are Islamic Development Bank countries. The "vicious trinity" of climate change, conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the development of a new realigned strategy which focuses on boosting recovery, tackling poverty and building resilience, as well as driving green economic growth. The strategy features Islamic financial development, climate change, women and youth, and science and technology as cross-cutting areas and is supported by inclusive human capital development and green, resilient and sustainable infrastructure as its two main pillars.

The Islamic Development Bank, he continued, has a policy for fragility and resilience which focuses on investing in prevention, transitioning from relief to development, supporting recovery and resilience and mobilizing resources for resilience. Within its operational framework, the Bank formulates an assessment of pre-conflict phases by utilizing risk analysis, developing policy prevention instruments and employing a do-no-harm and conflict-sensitivity lens. During the conflict phase, the Bank develops a practical transition support strategy to stay engaged in conflict countries and works through specialized funds to improve and sharpen interventions. For post-conflict recovery and reconstruction, the Bank conducted a comprehensive damage and needs assessment with all its strategic partners. He then spotlighted several of the Bank's flagship programmes on COVID-19, food security, gender empowerment and resilience, refugees and disaster risk governance. The Bank, he said, will be collaborating along the humanitarian-development-peace nexus to support States affected by crises and looks forward to more joint capacity development initiatives with other multi-lateral development banks and development institutions.

LESLEY LAHM, Representative, North American Representative Office, Asian Development Bank (ADB), said that over the past 56 years, ADB has contributed to building the region's infrastructure as well as human capacity in the sectors that underwrite development, including energy, transport, agriculture, finance, education, disaster preparedness, health and trade. While the region has experienced phenomenal growth during the financial institution's life, development has not always been even and the countries that have benefited the least are often the most vulnerable. These are fragile and conflict-affected situations, and small island developing States. Eleven of ADB's developing country members are classified as fragile, eight of which are also classified as small island developing States.

ADB released an enhanced approach in May 2021 aimed at creating a comprehensive and context-specific way to understand and address fragility in its developing member countries, she said. Building on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) work and its "States of Fragility" reports, ADB aims to understand the multidimensional nature of fragility and resilience and develop appropriate responses. Four lessons emerging from ADB's experience in fragile and conflict-affected countries as well as in small island developing States are being incorporated into its new approach, she said. First, projects will be designed with more tailored and adapted processes and procedures, particularly in bottleneck areas such as safeguards, procurement and financial management. Secondly, projects will benefit from flexible business processes and procedures as they are more timely and responsive to local conditions. Resources and staffing will be adjusted to fit the on-the-ground realities and finally, ADB staff will be better trained to work in these contexts. ADB's work complements national and international peacebuilding efforts by regularly formulating country partnership strategies, together with each individual developing member country and other development partners.

FERNANCO QUEVEDO, General Manager, Country Department for Central America, Haiti, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), said fragility, conflict and violence is a strategic issue of enormous relevance in Latin America and the Caribbean. According to the estimates of different multilateral organizations, between 40 and 70 million people in the region live in fragile countries, comprising 6 per cent to 11 per cent of the total population. Even more appalling is the fact that approximately 6 out of 10 people who live in fragile countries are poor - equivalent to three times the average poverty rate of the rest of the region's countries. IDB has gathered valuable experience from an array of fragile situations throughout the region and has pioneered some approaches that are being shared with other multilateral development institutions. For example, its work in Haiti, the most fragile country in Latin America, has offered several lessons and its projects and technical assistance have covered an array of fragility drivers: from earthquakes and economic crises to migration flows and high crime. The fragile environment in Central America's Northern Triangle and Venezuela has led to massive migration flows, generating spill overs across national borders throughout the region. In addition to the Bank's long-lasting support in those countries, IDB set in place a dedicated operational division and a $85 million grant facility for borrowing countries receiving migrants.

Despite the experience from these differentiated approaches, IDB does not yet have a unified conceptual framework or operational guidelines for work in fragile contexts beyond the priorities of its institutional strategy, he said. To close this gap, in March, the IDB Board of Governors mandated the Bank to advance operational and institutional reforms to address the needs of populations in fragile, conflict and violence-affected situations. In response to this mandate, management is currently developing IDB's first strategic framework on the topic. It pursues three objectives: to better identify and address drivers of fragility, promote resilience for sustained transitions out of fragility and prevention, and help mitigate spillovers of fragility. A key pillar of the framework being developed is the need to further strengthen partnerships and strategic cooperation with other international financial institutions, bilateral partners and the United Nations to ensure complementarity, economies of scales and more effective development outcomes.

ELIZABETH SPEHAR, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, said regional development banks have developed approaches and strategies to adapt their priorities and capacities to the challenges of peacebuilding settings. The recent Assembly resolution recognized the important role of financial institutions in building and sustaining peace. Strategic engagement between the United Nations and international financial institutions, including regional development banks, has never been more important in the light of the complex challenges facing the world. The link between development, peace and security is clear and she referred to the OECD and its States of Fragility report, which shows the connection between fiscal capacity, strong fiscal institutions and lower risks of conflict.

As the international community experiences the highest levels of conflict since the founding of the United Nations, official development assistance (ODA) for peacebuilding declined by 19 per cent from 2010 to 2020, she noted. Multilateralism is being severely tested and the need for a stronger focus on prevention is clear. Tailored approaches are vital, which includes working at the community level and including women and youth as key agents of change. It is necessary to approach conflicts with sensitivity and an understanding of their root causes, she said, also stressing the importance of international and regional organizations working together on issues such as data sharing, joint analysis and joint assessments. The Peacebuilding Support Office is keen to build relationships with international financial institutions and regional banks, which can bring strong contextual understanding and vital resources to conflict situations, she said.

THOMAS DJURHUUS, Lead Partnership Specialist for the Middle East and North Africa Region, World Bank Group, noted that an estimated 44 per cent of people living below the poverty line last year were living in countries affected by fragility, conflict and violence. With the trend worsening, delivering on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has increasingly become a challenge. Since the launch of its fragility, conflict and violence Strategy, the World Bank Group has been working on new and innovative approaches on operations, analytics and financing, he said. Over the last three years, the World Bank Group has scaled up its financing to the poorest countries and significantly broadened and deepened its engagement in fragile settings with more than $30 billion being deployed to States covering the full spectrum of fragility.

Through its International Development Association, the World Bank Group has also introduced a new prevention and resilience allocation, in complementarity with the United Nations, which serves as an important tool to provide additional financing which incentivizes Governments in fragile States to proactively address risks and grievances which could lead to conflict and violence. The World Bank Group, he continued, has also intensified its cooperation with regional development banks at headquarters and the country level, including on innovative financing; the migration for displacement agenda; training and learning on fragility, conflict and violence; joint analytical work; and the monitoring and evaluation of projects in fragile settings. Almost all multilateral development banks, he pointed out, now have a fragility, conflict and violence strategy. As the path out of fragility is non-linear, no institution can lift or address such immense challenges on its own. To that end, the World Bank Group will continue to build partnerships and leverage respective mandates, capacities and expertise to further support countries in vital areas such as conflict prevention, building resilience, addressing forced displacement and responding to food insecurity crises.

Statements

The representative of the Netherlands said her delegation is among the top 10 donors to the Peacebuilding Fund and she appreciates the Commission's role, which needs to be strengthened. Along with financing, the strengthening of local peacebuilding activities is critical to preventing conflict. The Commission's role is essential to ensure adequate and predictable financing for peacebuilding activities. "Investing in peacebuilding is the right thing and smart thing to do," she said, adding that the international community needs to collectively provide predictable financing. She welcomed the Assembly resolution 76/305 on financing for peacebuilding and expressed hope that the General Assembly's Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) will allocate at least $50 million in assessed contributions to the Peacebuilding Fund. She recognized the important roles the regional development banks play in addressing the root causes of fragility and conflict and said they need to be engaged with the Commission.

DEIKE POTZEL (Germany), expressing her support for increased and more predictable funding, welcomed efforts in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) to find a solution. Development spending must be peace-positive as a whole, she stressed. Peacebuilders must make sure that grants from development finance institutions and private economic activity will actively contribute to peace. For investments to have a positive impact, design and implementation must be accompanied by dialogue with local communities to address potential grievances and identify priorities, she encouraged while referencing the operationalization of the United Nations-World Bank Group conflict prevention agenda. As such, strategic commitments must be transformed into purpose-built operations with the active creation of openings for development finance institutions and private sector investments with a positive peace impact. National and local stakeholders must lead in identifying relevant opportunities and designing frameworks to ensure that investments contribute to peace locally.

SANITA PAVĻUTA-DESLANDES (Latvia), noting the growing role of the Commission in light of the Security Council's impeded effectiveness due to the increased use of the veto, underscored the role of regional financial institutions in bridging efforts between the local level and international actors. The Russian Federation's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine has demonstrated that no one should take peace for granted, she cautioned before spotlighting her country's assistance to Ukraine. Latvia will continue its support to the Peacebuilding Fund with an additional contribution this year, she announced. Despite regional differences in addressing fragility, there are nevertheless common building blocks, namely societal resilience, good governance, human rights protection, women's empowerment, media and information literacy promotion and accountability. Latvia will share its expertise in these fields as a member of the Commission, she pledged.

JOÃO SABIDO COSTA, Director, International Financial Institutions Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, said increased engagement between the Commission and regional development banks is an important step towards guaranteeing the adequacy, predictability and sustainability of financing for peacebuilding. Regional banks also can work with other regional actors to exchange information and perspectives and create an objective, up-to-date vision for solutions. Regional banks must account for local political situations, existing tensions and the permanence or risks of violence and armed conflict, in order to ensure sustainable outcomes. In conflict-afflicted settings, regional banks' activities must be closely aligned with the respective national peacebuilding priorities. Regional development banks can, and indeed must, be a powerful engine for cross-border and regional cooperation, which can open opportunities to support regional peacebuilding activities. Regional banks can also help devise creative solutions to support local, small-scale peacebuilding projects and local organizations led by women and youth.

LEIGH STUBBLEFIELD (United Kingdom) called for more integrated, inclusive and strategic policy approaches; smarter financing; and wide cooperation to focus more on conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Welcoming the increased focus of regional development banks on issues of conflict, fragility and violence, he underscored the critical need for early and sustained engagement through adaptive policies and mechanisms to manage risks. Without conflict risk analyses and sensitivity, development investments and their benefits will be jeopardized; without risk tolerant instruments capable of adapting to changing circumstances, countries and people will be abandoned when they most need support, he cautioned. There should be inter-institutional exchange and the sharing of best practices among institutions as they grapple with these issues. He then advocated for more structured coordination between regional development banks and the United Nations, especially at the country level.

ISHIKANE KIMIHIRO (Japan) advocated for creating synergies between all available resources including international financial institutions; regional development banks; United Nations agencies, funds and programmes; and bilateral donors. The Commission, he stressed, is an ideal forum for these entities to create a spirit of transparency and openness as well as deepen, coordinate, integrate and ultimately institutionalize their efforts based on shared priorities and desired outcomes. The Peacebuilding Fund, he continued, should utilize its flexibility and ability to provide seed money to catalyse resources for peacebuilding. The Commission can serve as a venue to review projects, present further needs and engage with regional development banks to make development financing sustainable. For its part, the Peacebuilding Support Office can utilize donor visits to assist regional development banks and other entities as they consider whether and how to further invest in projects. As regional perspectives, expertise and connections are critical to building resilient societies, the Peacebuilding Fund has much to learn from regional development banks, he added.

ROBERT KEITH RAE (Canada) said his Government engages actively on the boards of the regional development banks and supports their approaches to develop tools in fragile and crisis-affected settings. With their technical knowledge of the countries they support, regional development banks play an important role and complement the efforts of other international financial institutions. As closer collaboration between development banks, international financial institutions and the Commission is explored, their working relationships must use gender and inclusion, coherence and prevention as guiding principles. Coherence is key and financing partnerships with humanitarian actors, as part of the humanitarian development-peace nexus, must be strengthened. The "pivot to prevention" must be supported with investments in early warning mechanisms. Private sector involvement is also crucial. Financing for peacebuilding remains a critical challenge and he recognized the key role regional development banks can play in addressing the existing financing gaps. They can also meet increasing requests for peacebuilding while ensuring the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and youth in peacebuilding activities, he said.

The representative of Egypt stated that the Peacebuilding Commission, under Egypt's chairmanship, spearheaded efforts to "walk the talk" on financing for peacebuilding, which remains a critical challenge. He recognized the importance that international and regional financial institutions can play in peacebuilding. The reform of international financial institutions, procedures, regulations and norms is critical to make sure the world economy works for all and not only for the rich, he added. Such reform will consequently enhance the contribution of international financial institutions in peacebuilding settings. Commending the development of peacebuilding-related strategies by international and regional financial institutions, he said continued efforts are much needed to strengthen partnership and strategic cooperation between the United Nations and international and regional financial institutions at Headquarters and in the field. As such, more attention must be paid to developing joint priorities and analysis, towards collective outcomes, complementarity and coordination, in line with national peacebuilding priorities.

HAMEED OPELOYERU, Permanent Observer for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), said a multi-layered approach to peacebuilding has always guided OIC's inter-agency synergy. With a 2021 population of about 1.65 billion that makes up about one quarter of the global population and comprises only 7 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP), OIC member States face daunting socioeconomic challenges, including poverty. To address these challenges, the organization has created a network of regional and international partnerships and collaborations. About one third of the 57 OIC member States are least developed countries and they make about 40 per cent of the world's poor. The OIC's development and infrastructure financing features the Islamic Development Bank Group, a specialized OIC institution, and the Islamic Solidarity Fund, a subsidiary institution of the OIC General Secretariat. These two funds are dedicated to financing human and physical infrastructure development, as well as humanitarian, educational and emergency interventions. Increased cooperation is needed between the United Nations and its specialized multilateral development institutions, on the one hand, and regional and multilateral development banking institutions on the other. This would address the widening gap in development funding. There should also be support to expand national financial technology institutions in developing countries, particularly in rural areas.

JOSÉ ALFONSO BLANCO CONDE (Dominican Republic) said it is clear that voluntary contributions are no longer sufficient. The multilateral system must be prepared to activate partnerships that support peace efforts in political, technical and financial fields. As maintaining peace is a shared responsibility, States must explore all opportunities to make the most of available resources, extend funding, leverage cooperation to unblock financial flows and continue building strategic partnerships to ensure an integrated approach to peacebuilding on the ground. Comprehensive approaches must involve the entire United Nations system, international financial institutions, multilateral development banks and development finance institutions, he stressed. Only through increased partnership which expands strategic cooperation and ensures collective, complementary and coordinated implementation results can States strengthen resilience, address long-term fragility and create new financing tools to better align support with national ownership. Regional banks, he urged, must intensify efforts to support young people as agents of change and undertake a holistic approach when analysing their socioeconomic situations.

The representative of Brazil said resource mobilization is essential as the many conflicts around the world put increasing pressures on resources. This situation will be aggravated in the foreseeable future with the risk of a worsening global economic situation. "There is no easy clear, precise, discernible line between development assistance and peacebuilding support," he said, adding that development is the clearest means to preventing conflict, which is usually a result of scarce resources. The Peacebuilding Fund and the Commission have an important role to play in coordination, yet they must resist the temptation to become one more development agency and competitor for development finance. Their comparative advantage is that they can arrive early to a situation and bring resources. Their ability to coordinate between the different actors is also key. This help must be guided by national ownership, he stressed.

The representative of the Gambia, reiterating his country's support for the Peacebuilding Fund's Strategy for 2020-2024, highlighted the benefits and potential of partnerships in fast tracking Africa's development and peacebuilding priorities. As Agenda 2063 of the African Union hinges greatly on the successful partnership between that organization and the United Nations, he called for strengthened, coordinated and coherent efforts in building countries' resilience for conflict prevention and post-conflict recovery. The hopes and aspirations of Agenda 2063 must be obtained through innovative means which yield results, he stressed. In spotlighting the achievement of predictable financing for peacebuilding through Assembly resolution 76/305, he encouraged the Commission to place predictable financing for sustaining peace at the top of its agenda. "If we build peace, we must be able to sustain peace," he said, adding: "the Commission has the potential to do more if only we are ready to convert innovative ideas into realities".

SURIYA CHINDAWONGSE (Thailand), underscoring the need for adequate, predictable and sustained financing, highlighted the role of regional development banks in the sharing of due diligence, identification of viable projects and mobilization of resources. Sustainable peace and sustainable development, he continued, must go hand in hand. Regional development banks must support national and regional peacebuilding and sustaining peace efforts while incorporating a robust sustainable development component and complementing national and regional priorities. With the urgency of climate change and its impact on resource allocation to promote sustainable peace and development, regional development banks have a possible role in supporting sustainable development efforts through the new loss and damage funding arrangement of the twenty-seventh Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He then encouraged greater collaboration between reginal development banks and host countries and regions on empowering all people, especially women, girls and other vulnerable groups.

The representative of Kenya stated that financing and partnerships for peacebuilding in conflict-afflicted communities should incorporate and coordinate with efforts to promote food security and livelihoods. The partnership between the Commission and regional development banks should promote designing and implementing projects - in coordination with national authorities and local communities - that will provide these necessities at the local level. Real progress is needed on addressing the challenges posed by climate, he added. Climate financing for climate adaptation should be peace-aware in its programmatic implementation, which requires progress in the development of the link among climate, peacebuilding and security. He noted the historic Assembly resolution 76/305 on financing for peacebuilding seeks to ensure adequate, predictable and sustainable financing for peacebuilding. In this regard, the African Development Bank would benefit from enhanced partnership with the United Nationsgiven the Bank's fast and flexible disbursement mechanism designed to support countries, consolidate peace, build resilient institutions, stabilize their economies and lay the foundations for inclusive growth and social ascohesion.

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