Developments 48 by Brian Cumming

O N E WO R L D A M I L L I O N S TO R I E S

Refugee footballers aim for the top Kenyan soap surprises UK kids Eco-tourism protects island marine life

Breakdown & recovery why fighting poverty means getting fragile states back on track

www.developments.org.uk

ISSUE 48 | 2010

EDUCATION IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

www.dfid.gov.uk Public Enquiry Point: 0845 300 4100 (UK only) or +44 1355 84 3132 (from outside the UK) enquiry@dfid.gov.uk Developments magazine and website are produced by the Department for International Development to raise awareness of development issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect official policies.

A young woman shows her ink-stained finger that proves she’s voted, and stops her voting twice, during the 2009 Afghan elections. © Jenny Matthews/Panos

EDITORS Martin Wroe Malcolm Doney CONTRIBUTORS Douglas Alexander Tony Blair Paul Collier Geoff Crawford Brian Cumming Pauline Diamond Brian Draper James Hole Barry Hugill Georgina Kenyon Clare Lockhart Ruth Rosselson Nabiha Shahab Georgina Smith Leni Wild This magazine is printed on 90gsm Royal Web Silk, from 100% FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) certified pulp. It is manufactured in the UK and has a low-carbon footprint on transport.

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Local residents build a road that will allow them easy access to the town of Heiraton, Kaldar District, Balkh Province, Afghanistan. © Iva Zimova/Panos

In case of breakdown… SPAIN. SINGAPORE. CHILE. UGANDA. RWANDA. NEPAL. SOMALIA. AFGHANISTAN. SUDAN. WHAT’S THE CONNECTION? Not so long ago, the first three were known as ‘fragile states’ – but no longer. The middle three were unstable as recently as the late 20th century, but today, the worst is behind them. As we go to print, the final three are still considered ‘fragile’. These are places where government struggles to deliver basic services like health and education; where the progress of neighbouring states is at risk; where the benefits of globalisation might as well be taking place on some other globe elsewhere in the cosmos. But as our focus in this edition of Developments illustrates, the world cannot insulate itself from countries where order has broken down. Human trafficking, the drug trade and terrorism, for instance, are the dark exports of globalisation. Piracy off the coast of Somalia (p18) is a case in point. But these countries are not hopeless cases, as Paul Collier (p15) and Clare Lockhart (p20) demonstrate. And stories from Afghanistan (pp17 & 21) to Indonesia (p24) show the slow, dogged steps on the path from breakdown to recovery . In all of these societies there are brave, dedicated people struggling for change – often against seemingly insurmountable odds. But as Collier says, we must “change the mentality, so that a critical mass of people begin to realise that by cooperation, everyone can win”. From Spain to Rwanda, history shows it is both practical and possible. MARTIN WROE AND MALCOLM DONEY

CONTENTS 4 9

Global News Breakdown & Recovery Special focus on the needs of the most fragile countries.

10 Why are broken states important and how can we fix them? 12 How UK professionals help restore stability in the world’s most troubled hotspots. 15 Paul Collier, author of ‘The Bottom Billion’ on the ‘critical priorities’ for unstable countries.

Refugee footballers find a future at their feet.

30 Eco-tourism on Madagascar safeguards communities and their marine environment. 33 A Kenyan soap opera gains new young fans in the UK. 37

Faith plays a role in helping people escape poverty, say Tony Blair and Douglas Alexander.

17 Women, long undervalued, are key players in the new Afghanistan. 17 Bringing protection and justice to Pakistan’s women. 20 Afghan farmers find viable alternatives to poppy cultivation. 21 Stability and prosperity is possible, however vulnerable a country is, says Clare Lockhart. 22 To rebuild a nation, put human rights at the centre says Amnesty’s Irene Khan. 24 Former Indonesian female fighters get down to business.

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DEVELOPMENTS 48 GLOBAL NEWS

Rose grows tall Women farmers are vital if hunger is to be eliminated says Rose Mubita, Zambian farmer and activist. Barry Hugill reports.

She is in the UK to promote a report, Women Marginal Farmers Speak Out, from Concern Worldwide, based on the experiences of female farmers in Zambia’s Western Province. Concern has been working in the area since 2002, the year of a terrible drought. Rose is the chairperson for the Mongu District Farmers Association which has a membership of 15 men and just three women. Its founding aim was to aid local farmers improve their methods to try and provide more guaranteed crops. It also involved itself in HIV and AIDS education and, unusually, lobbied for equal opportunities between men and women. In 2003 it went into partnership with Concern Worldwide which helped with resources and encouraged women to take on leadership roles.

Rose remembers her first months as a member: “I spoke to other women and we all felt left out. Even use of the term ‘chairman’ put women off. I was very nervous about speaking in front of men who thought that we were not intelligent enough to take on leadership roles. I had to change my own mind about what I could do.” Six years later the association now has 1,731 male and a staggering 1,870 female members. She still farms but increasingly lobbies her own government, and now that of the UK, to understand how vital female farmers are. “Farming is the main way for households to get food in Western Province. My association works with poor farmers, but aren’t able to reach the poorest women due to lack of finance. Poor women farmers don’t get any support. They need help with seeds, fertiliser, credit. They are the ones who are growing the crops and cooking the food to feed their families, yet often are forced to go to bed hungry.” Ruth Tripachi, Head of Policy for Concern Worldwide, says “Hunger cannot be addressed without involving and supporting poor women farmers who currently make up the majority of the world’s hungry. These women are, at the same time mothers, primary carers and farmers,” she adds. “Government and aid policies must acknowledge their multiple roles and support them.”

Find out more www.concern.net

Farmer Rose Mubita: In most poor countries, women produce 60-80% of the food. © Concern Worldwide

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EUROPE’S GM RESISTANCE ‘KEEPS AFRICA POOR’ European consumers who refuse to buy genetically modified foodstuffs may be denying African farmers the chance to use GM varieties that resist drought and pests. A delegation of African farmers at a EuropaBio meeting in Brussels expressed concern that slow regulatory approval for GM foods in Europe was harming development. South African maize farmer Motlatsi Everest Musi told European Union officials he had increased yields by 34% since cultivating GM Bt-maize since 2005. But he warned that many African growers were afraid of following suit because of the risk of losing European markets. © UNDP

osemary Mubita, 47, a farmer from Zambia is making her first visit to the UK. On a wet, grey morning she politely enquires if the sun ever shines in London before describing what it means to a farmer in her country. “I get up early and walk for 45 minutes to get to my land. I have 10 hectares but can only manage to work four of them. After a few hours I’m too tired to do any more, I am worn out.” In most poor countries women produce between 60% and 80% of food, yet policy makers in both developed and developing countries tend to ignore them in favour of more ‘productive’, male, farmers. The consequences are dire – back-breaking labour because the women have almost no tools, limited access to seeds and fertiliser and are at the mercy of the often harsh climatic conditions. Thousands of people go for days without food, malnutrition is rife, premature death taken for granted. Rose farms 580km from the capital city of Zambia, Lusaka. The region has 12,000 farmers and last year only 369 received any government support. To add to their plight HIV and AIDS are taking their toll and many women are responsible for large extended families as so many men die young. Rose says that a neighbour “has been left looking after a family of 21”.

PHOTO COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTS SUSTAINABLITLY The power of photographs to inspire sustainable development was highlighted in a UN Development Programme (UNDP) competition. Picture This: Caring for the Earth, organised with the Olympus Corporation and the Agence France-Presse (AFP) was designed to show how “ordinary people work to preserve the environment and reduce the effects of climate change in their communities”, said UNDP. Winning photos showed environmentalists planting trees in Kenya; Moroccan women turning plastic bags into handbags; and a Kenyan couple planting a tree on their wedding day. “By showing us what ordinary citizens of Africa are doing to tackle climate change,” said Helen Clark, UNDP administrator, “we see the extraordinary power of photographs to tell stories”.

‘Branchless banking’ set to grow Predictions mixed over what banking services will poor customers take up.

Cost of sending money home ‘too high’ Remittances are worth $300bn a year, but more could easily reach the poor.

frican workers send home more than $40bn to the continent each year, but restrictive laws and costly fees hamper the power of these remittances to lift people out of poverty. It means that the power of remittances to fight poverty remains largely untapped. That’s the conclusion of a report by the UN’s rural poverty agency, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Globally, remittances now top $300bn a year, outstripping foreign direct investment and development assistance combined. But, while transfer costs have declined significantly in Latin America and in Asia, sending money home to Africa is still very expensive – as much as 25% of the sum being sent. At the G8 Summit in Italy last July, world leaders set a goal of reducing the cost of remittance flows by 50% over five years – by promoting competition and removing barriers. At present, the number of payout locations across Africa is the same as Mexico – which has only one tenth of the population. Up to 40% of remittances sent to Africa are destined for rural areas, where many recipients have to travel great distances to collect their cash.

But the report finds that – just by expanding the kind of institutions able to conduct remittances services to include microfinance institutions and post offices – would double the number of payment points. And new technologies like cellphones, and existing infrastructure like post offices, could dramatically boost the reach of remittance services. It’s already happening in places like Algeria where 95% of remittances are paid through post offices. “Supporting this people-topeople money flow to rural areas of Africa is especially vital now because of the recession,” explained IFAD assistant president Kevin Cleaver. “The power of remittances can be catalysed by easing restrictions and making it less costly for African families to collect this money.” Most money sent home by migrants is spent on daily consumption but research shows that linking remittances to financial services for people without bank accounts – or savings accounts, loans and insurance – allows even the very poor to save and potentially invest in the development of their community.

The global expansion of ‘branchless banking’, including using mobile phones, is inevitable, but there is no certainty that large numbers of poor people without bank accounts will use these alternative channels for financial services beyond payments, such as savings and credit. Scenarios for Branchless Banking in 2020, a report from CGAP, a microfinance group based at the World Bank, and the Department for International Development (DFID), shows how the poor are kept in poverty when they are financially excluded. They lack safe places to save money, the opportunity to invest in their future, and cannot reduce the risk of their savings being lost in natural disasters. Governments and the private sector, it says, must work to ensure investment delivers technology-based financial services to the poorest people.

The report sets out a series of future scenarios in which the use of branchless banking services is forecast to be far higher in 2020 – but in two of the these, bursts of rapid acceleration are followed by periods of falloff or flatter growth. “Mobile banking pioneers give us hope that millions of poor people, especially those living in rural areas, finally might be served by the banking system,” said Elizabeth Littlefield, chief executive of CGAP. “That said, new business models and partnerships that provide the right incentives to banks and banking agents are vital if we are to move beyond simple payments and transfers to being able to offer other basic banking services, especially savings, that poor people need and want.” Find out more www.dfid.org.uk www.cgap.org

Find out more www.ifad.org/

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DEVELOPMENTS 48 GLOBAL NEWS

Orphans’ champion wins award Burundi civil war heroine recognised for a life of compassion.

aggy Barankitse rescued 25 orphans during the Burundian civil war of 1993-2005, and now runs a children’s village supporting 30,000 young people and families. Her remarkable actions have won her the first Guardian Achievements in International Development award. The civil war in Burundi echoed the conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes in neighbouring Rwanda. “I am a Tutsi woman,” says Barankitse. “But my ethnicity has never defined me. I believe we are all born equal.” In her early 20s, she adopted seven orphaned children – four Hutu and three Tutsi. “When the killing began in the 1990s,” she says, “people were demanding to know who was Hutu and who was Tutsi. I said, ‘you can’t separate children.’ But no one would protect us. So we went to the Catholic Bishop’s

dwelling, thinking we would be protected in God’s house.” On 24 October 1993, a Tutsi mob surrounded the house and set fire to it. They murdered 70 Hutu children and many adults. Barankitse, who had been stripped naked, beaten and tied up, eventually escaped with her own children and 25 others. She founded Maison Shalom (House of Peace) as a home for the 25 orphaned children who survived the massacre. But the numbers soon mushroomed. Some 558,000 children lost at least one parent in the Burundian civil war; about 77,000 lost both. “They kept bringing more and more orphaned children to me,” says Barankitse. “They weren’t just from the war in Burundi, but from the genocide in Rwanda. For a while, I was just stunned, wondering how I could support them financially. But then I

Maggy Barankitse also received the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child in 2003. Through this prize children around the globe learn about their rights and democracy, and vote on who will receive their award. © Paul Blomgren

realised this was a call to my heart – it would be my vocation.” Today, Maison Shalom has developed into a fully fledged children’s village, supporting 30,000 young people and families. Farms have been established to provide food for the children, and training is provided for ex-combatants in mechanics or computer literacy. “Maggy has been a key mover in bringing peace and a future to Ruyigi,” says Jane Moyo from ActionAid,. “The results have been miraculous.” “I was so surprised and honoured to learn I had won the Guardian award,” says Barankitse. “It is a recognition that these children have become lights amid the darkness of war. It shows to people, politicians and all ethnic groups that it’s possible, even after terrible horror, to love one another.”

EAST AFRICAN CRIME UNDER THE COSH A four-year campaign against organised crime in east Africa is to be coordinated by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Thirteen ministers from regional governments at a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, endorsed three key focuses: • Countering illicit trafficking (of goods and people) and organised crime and terrorism. • Fighting corruption and promoting justice and integrity within states. • Improving health and human development. The UNODC believes economic and social development is harmed by organised crime and the weak legal and administrative systems that encourage law-breaking. “In eastern Africa, warning lights are flashing – we must respond immediately,” warned UNODC‘s Antonio Maria Costa. His concerns focus on the illegal importation of weapons, hazardous waste, counterfeit medicines and drugs into the region, including 30-35 tons of heroin a year. Meanwhile, minerals, hardwood and endangered species are smuggled out. Eastern Africa is a major source of migrants smuggled into Europe. ARAB SOCIETIES CAN BRIDGE ‘THE KNOWLEDGE GAP’ With liberalisation and investment in education and technology, the Arab world could close the gap in achievements with other regions says the Arab Knowledge Report 2009, published by the UNDP and the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation. The report argues, “Political, institutional, cultural and intellectual reforms, as well as reform of the media and information technologies are vital.” This means political and intellectual freedom in a region of powerful monarchies and strong presidents. The report highlighted “grave concerns” about education, with over one third of adults in the region illiterate.

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ETHIOPIA’S SESAME STREET WINS AWARD An Ethiopian version of the popular television show Sesame Street has won a UNESCO award for showing how televised puppetry can promote children’s learning in developing countries. Tsehai Loves Learning, broadcast on Ethiopian national television ETV, features a knowledge hungry giraffe called Tsehai and his friend Mr Turtle. Their adventures take place against an Ethiopian backdrop using computer generated imagery. Besides using stories to teach letters, numbers and shapes in the country’s dominant language Amharic, the programme also teaches social and moral lessons, focusing on stress, losing parents, and child slavery. Tsehai Loves Learning was created by the Whiz Kids Workshop, a production company based in Addis Ababa, owned by Bruktawit Tigabu and Shane Etzenhouser. Mrs Tigabu said the programme encourages children to learn formally: “Research indicates that children stay in school longer when they enter school prepared.”

Migration ‘good for everyone’ Fears about human migration aren’t based on evidence, says report.

Immigrants queue at the port of Lampedusa, Italy. © Alfredo D’Amato/Panos

Reforming migration policies and opening legal channels will benefit Europe after the recession and address the problem of a shrinking and aging population, says a UN report. Overcoming Barriers: Human mobility and development – the 2009 Human Development Report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – reveals that the massive inflows associated with European Union accession in 2004 led neither to the displacement of local workers nor to increased unemployment. It says that migration can significantly enhance human development among everyone concerned – the migrant families, the nations the migrants leave, and the communities where they settle. Migration can raise a person’s income, health and education prospects. Being able to decide

where to live is a key element of human freedom, it says, while big gains to human development can be achieved by lowering barriers to movement and improving policies towards those who move. The report argues that migrants should be entitled to essential rights and protections with access to basic services. The global recession should be seized as an opportunity for migration reform, especially for low-skilled workers. Failure to address mobility issues slows human development’s progress at individual, community, national and global levels. “Human mobility is a vast topic, often overlooked, with divided, entrenched opinions on many sides of the debate,” says Jeni Klugman, the report’s lead author. “The report contributes evidence and data to a debate that is otherwise often driven by emotions and accusations.”

Overcoming Barriers calls on receiving countries to take steps to end discrimination and prejudice against migrants. Perceptions of migration are often wildly different from the truth, it finds. For example, only 3% of Africans live in a country other than the one where they were born and less than 1% of Africans live in Europe. Migrants typically boost economic output and give more than they take. Detailed investigations show that immigration generally increases employment rates in host communities, does not crowd out locals from the job market and improves rates of investment in new businesses and initiatives. And there is ample evidence of gains in other areas such as social diversity and the capacity for innovation. Find out more www.undp.org

INDIGENOUS FOOD BEATS WESTERN DIETS Harvested sustainably, the plants, animals and birds of jungles, deserts, ice caps and steppes inhabited by traditional societies offer a varied diet and excellent nutrition. So says, Indigenous People’s Food Systems, a book co-published by the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Canada’s McGill University’s Centre for Indigenous People’s Nutrition and Environment. Commercial western fare often uses just four commercial crops – wheat, rice, corn, and soy which also feed livestock for meat and dairy. The book points out that traditional foods not only generally taste good but also frequently contain very high levels of micronutrients. For instance, Micronesian island Pohnpei has a banana called Utin Llap which is packed with betacarotene. The FAO’s Barbara Burlingame said: “This book shows the wealth of knowledge in indigenous communities, in diverse ecosystems, and the richness of their food resources.”

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DEVELOPMENTS 48 GLOBAL NEWS

Bowler helps young offenders bounce back Courtney Walsh Foundation offers cricket training and life skills.

egendary West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh is helping keep Jamaica’s young offenders on the right line, through a cricket based project funded by the UK government and supported by the Department for International Development (DFID). The Courtney Walsh Foundation is running the Second Chance project, which helps define boundaries for boys under 18 in young offender institutions, and supports their return into the community. Combining cricket training with instruction in life skills, the scheme has the support of other West Indies players like Jimmy Adams and Wes Hall – while other cricketers have joined in coaching sessions with the youngsters. “The idea is to give young people a second chance, to stop them re-offending,” explains Walsh. “As the programme develops I hope to get some of the biggest names in Caribbean sport involved –

footballers and track stars as well as cricketers.” The UK is working closely with the Jamaican government to reduce re-offending across the island, as well as improve the skills of probation and prison staff, expand rehabilitation services, and improve services for ex-offenders. Teamwork, responsibility, self-reliance and respect for others are core to the game of cricket. As a cricketer Walsh had a legendary work ethic and was the first bowler to take 500 wickets in tests. “Courtney Walsh, as one of test cricket’s great pace men, is famous for knocking grown men off their feet,” said UK International Development Minister Mike Foster. “Now he’s helping these young men get back on their feet, to rehabilitate them, and inspire them to be good citizens.”

Find out more www.dfid.gov.uk

Cow vaccine to the rescue Vaccinations to benefit millions of poor cattle owners. Millions of African families could be saved from destitution thanks to a much-needed vaccine that is being mass-produced to protect cattle against a deadly parasite. East coast fever is a ticktransmitted disease that kills a million cows a year – one very 30 seconds. Calves are particularly susceptible – in herds kept by the pastoral Maasai people, for example, the disease can kill up to 50% of all unvaccinated calves. This seriously affects herders’ livelihoods. An experimental vaccine against East coast fever was first developed more than 30 years ago, but with funding from the Department for International Development (DFID) and others it is now being produced on a large scale. East coast fever puts the lives of

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more than 25m cattle at risk in the 11 countries where the disease is endemic, and endangers 10m more animals in regions such as southern Sudan. The vaccine could save the affected countries £175m a year. “Many Africans depend on the health of their cattle for milk, meat and as their only hard asset for trade and investment,” said International Development Minister Mike Foster. “A smallholder dairy farmer can take years to recover economically from the death of a single milking cow. That’s why it’s vital that every possible step is taken to ensure that these essential vaccine doses are sustainably produced, tested and made available to the people who need them.” Find out more www.dfid.gov.uk

UN TO MONITOR ANTICORRUPTION PROGRESS A new United Nations monitoring system will check whether the 142 countries who have signed the UN Convention Against Corruption are fulfilling their promises to fight graft. Using self-assessments and peer reviews by experts, the system has been welcomed by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), whose anticorruption chair Francois Vincke said “We are moving towards having a level playing field and towards the provisions of the UN convention being applied equally all over the world.”

142

countries have signed the UN Convention Against Corruption

BREAKDOWN & RECOVERY THE FACTS ABOUT FRAGILE STATES, WHY THE WORLD CAN’T IGNORE THEM… AND HOW THEY CAN GET BACK ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

All poor countries are fragile in some ways – vulnerable to shocks from nature or the global economy, from political instability at home or within neighbouring countries. But a minority of poor countries are especially at risk. These ‘failed’ or ‘fragile’ states are unable or unwilling to meet the basic needs of their people who find that sufficient food can’t be guaranteed, clean water, health and education are a luxury, and lawlessness maybe the norm. People, especially the very poorest, can feel permanently unsafe. Investment is often too risky and economic growth is just a pipe dream. While many of the world’s poorest countries have been escaping from poverty in our generation, hundreds of millions of people in fragile countries such as Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo or Sudan remain trapped. If you think of development as chutes and ladders, says Oxford economist Paul Collier, then “in the modern world of globalisation there are some fabulous ladders; most societies are using them. But there are also some chutes and some societies have hit them… they are stuck.” But globalisation also underlines why we cannot ignore countries which are ‘stuck’ because it is often in just such places some of the world’s most acute problems emerge. It is the absolute poverty and violence in fragile countries that provide opportunities for drug runners, human traffickers and other international criminals to operate. But a consensus is emerging about effective ‘ladders’ of development in these countries allowing the long process of development to take root: national and regional security and a visible path to peace; basic social services; trustworthy leadership and good governance; support to ignite economic development and create jobs so that the progress is not threatened. As the following pages illustrate, these are just the first steps in the transformation of fractured countries into effective states, but development will only succeed if it is owned and driven by a country’s own people. Without

it, as President Barack Obama put it when accepting the Nobel peace prize last December, hope soon evaporates. “It is undoubtedly true that development rarely takes root without security; it is also true that security does not exist where human beings do not have access to enough food, or clean water, or the medicine they need to survive. It does not exist where children cannot aspire to a decent education or a job that supports a family. The absence of hope can rot a society from within.”

WHAT IS A ‘FRAGILE’ STATE? From AFGHANISTAN and BURMA to SUDAN and ZIMBABWE, sometimes a government cannot deliver basic services to its citizens. Not just education or healthcare but perhaps even basic law and security. Some, like SOMALIA, are collapsed states where government has little control. Some, like AFGHANISTAN, are in conflict. Others – like NEPAL, ANGOLA and SIERRA LEONE – are still recovering from conflict. Sometimes, a country’s government maintains strong control of its people but is not committed to ending poverty – as in BURMA or ZIMBABWE. In other cases, like YEMEN, there is a risk of setbacks and an increase in conflict. And even when things are largely positive, one particular region may be beyond government control – as was the case in northern Uganda. DEVELOPMENTS 48 | 9

THE POOREST PEOPLE Fragile states contain 14% of the world’s population but account for nearly 30% of people living on less than $1 a day. One person in three is undernourished – twice as high as in other poor countries. The death rate from malaria is nearly 13 times higher in fragile states than elsewhere in the developing world, and the proportion of people living with HIV and AIDS is four times higher. People in fragile states are less likely to go to school or to receive essential health care.

WALKING AWAY IS NO OPTION On a joined-up planet ignoring unstable countries is not an option. Trouble gets exported. From piracy off the coast SOMALIA, to terrorist training camps as we saw in AFGHANISTAN and see in YEMEN. Fragile states may be the hardest places to nurture development – but the problems only grow if we walk away. Fragile states pose tricky questions: we should not prop up tyrants but should we penalise the poorest? Supplying humanitarian aid helps meet immediate needs, but how can we address the underlying chronic problems that leave people constantly in crisis?

A RAPID REPAIR IN AFGHANISTAN The path to stability is long but sometimes immediate results can be gained. In Sangin District of Helmand Province in AFGHANISTAN, the UK’s Stabilisation Unit realised that local young people were particularly susceptible to Taliban influence – old enough to carry communications and parts for improvised explosive devices but may not be mature enough to understand the consequences of their actions. A ‘Quick Impact Project’ involving ‘Youth Shuras’ saw young people engaged in traditional Afghan methods of debate, community dialogue and decision making, opening vital communication lines between young people and representatives of the state, and reducing the likelihood of radicalisation.

PREVENTION CHEAPER THAN CURE Working to fix failed states makes economic sense. The average cost of a civil war in a low-income fragile state is around $54bn. It’s much cheaper to prevent states from falling into conflict or collapse than to repair it later. It’s estimated that each £1 spent on conflict prevention saves the international community £4.

RESTORING STABILITY NEIGHBOURS FROM HELL Vulnerable states can slip into a spiral of instability, creating opportunities for criminal and terrorist networks. That instability spreads beyond borders in refugee flows, the spread of HIV and AIDS, arms smuggling and the breakdown of trade. Effective government is critical not just to a country’s citizens, but also to its neighbours – growth is reduced by 0.4% a year when a neighbouring country is fragile.

ECONOMIC FLATLINE Fragile states become ‘stuck’ without the economic growth that could lift their people from poverty. From 1990 to 2002 their gross domestic product per capita broadly flatlined while other developing countries grew. 10 | DEVELOPMENTS 48

With 82,000 troops and military observers worldwide, UN peacekeeping missions provide essential security in countries like LIBERIA, COTE D’IVOIRE and HAITI. But achieving a national sense of security and regional stability is essential in the transition from breakdown to recovery. For example, in SIERRA LEONE, a security and justice programme led by DFID helped boost people’s perceptions of security. Support from the UK funded a programme in the Great Lakes region (which includes BURUNDI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, RWANDA and UGANDA) which has demobilised around 300,000 combatants and reintegrated around 200,000 people, improving peace and security in the region.

ON A JOINED-UP PLANET UNSTABLE COUNTRIES CAN’T BE IGNORED. TROUBLE GETS EXPORTED, FROM PIRACY TO TERRORIST TRAINING CAMPS.

NEPAL CLIMBING OUT OF TROUBLE NEPAL is the 14th poorest country in the world and the poverty of some of its excluded ethnic groups is double the national average. Poor governance has been a key cause of poverty and conflict but rapid political and social change is underway since a 2006 deal between the government and Maoists rebels, ending a ten year civil war that claimed 13,000 lives. Following elections in 2008, the ‘Enabling State Programme’, backed by DFID, is helping fight corruption, improve participation of formerly excluded groups and create ways of resolving disputes. A DFID-supported fund backs Nepali institutions working to sustain democracy through education, helping communities to help themselves, and to speed institutional reform. The situation remains vulnerable but the more people get a say in their future, the stronger it gets.

FAIR COP IN SIERRA LEONE Despite dazzling mineral wealth, more than a quarter of Sierra Leonians live in extreme poverty. But things are looking up. Following 10 years of civil war, the country has made strides in consolidating peace and rebuilding infrastructure. In 2007, just five years after the end of the civil war,

free and fair elections took place. Countries emerging from fragility must be able to trust in the local government and the institutions, like the police force and judicial system, that support it. Prior to the election, the Sierra Leonian police – under a DFID-backed scheme – received intensive training on everything from non-violent crowd-control to identifying potential trouble spots.

AFGHANISTAN

NEPAL

BURMA

YEMEN SUDAN

SOMALIA SIERRA LEONE LIBERIA

ETHIOPIA CÔTE D’IVOIRE DEMOCRATIC UGANDA REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO RWANDA (DRC) BURUNDI

PICKING UP THE PIECES IN SUDAN Conflict in Darfur, in western Sudan, has taken 200,000 lives and displaced 2.5 million people since 2003. Investing in education both boosts eventual economic development and helps reconciliation. For example, across Southern Sudan, girls enrolment is up 20% yearon-year, the majority of whom are from disadvantaged groups and children of displaced people.

ANGOLA

GRASS ROOTS JUSTICE IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC)

know that he knows his rights, and will not be taken advantage of. Mwanso and his neighbours have been taught how to tackle corruption by a farmers’ movement which DFID funds through Christian Aid. “If one of the civil servants asks for money, we say ‘no papa – we know all about what is legal and not legal’ and he runs away.” Members now know how much they should be paying and some have even had paralegal training to defend their claims. As a result, communities are gaining the confidence to have their say in public life, a vital step in the journey towards democracy.

The DRC – home to extraordinary mineral wealth – could be the most prosperous country on the continent. But decades of misrule and two civil wars have left most people desperately poor. There are hopeful signs after the 2006 democratic elections, the first for 40 years, but corruption has been a barrier on the road to stability. The pass that farmer Mwanso Walimbwa wears is one emblem of hope. Wearing it lets corrupt officials

RWANDA ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY ZIMBABWE

At the end of 1994 almost a million Rwandans were dead and nearly 3 million were refugees, following years of decline and conflict capped by a cataclysmic genocide. The UK was the first country to provide direct support to RWANDA to support them to rebuild state institutions, national infrastructure and individual lives. As a result schools and hospitals have been rebuilt, equal numbers of boys and girls are in school, HIV rates are under control, and an effective taxation system, gathers revenues for a growing national budget. Land ownership – an issue that helped fuel the genocide, is being addressed through practical reforms. Democracy has been boosted by a strengthened electoral system. RWANDA is the first country in the world with a predominantly female parliament. RWANDA has a long way to go but it is rapidly leaving behind the status of ‘fragile state’.

RECOVERY IN SIGHT Peacebuilding and Statebuilding is the Department for International Development’s main objective in helping fix failed states. This means: • Supporting an inclusive political settlement. • Addressing the root causes of conflict. • Developing state survival functions (security, justice and revenue management). • Helping the state respond to public expectations (from basic services like healthcare and education to effective governance or democratisation). In 2009, it was anticipated that 51% of DFID’s assistance sent direct to other countries would be spent in fragile states – a jump from 38% in 2002. DEVELOPMENTS 48 | 11

COOL HEADS IN HOT PLACES From Afghanistan to Sudan, countries emerging from conflict need stability above all else. The UK’s Stabilisation Unit is a pool of calm advisers who bring their expertise to the world’s most troubled hotspots. Brian Draper reports.

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“IT’S THAT PERFECT SMELL: A LITTLE BIT OF DIESEL, MIXED WITH SPICE, AND SCENTED WITH SOME ACRIDITY IN THE AIR, TOO. THE MUNICIPAL SERVICE OF WASTE DISPOSAL HASN’T REALLY GOT A FOOTHOLD YET – THAT’S SOMETHING WE’RE CURRENTLY WORKING ON.” So beams Mike McKie, if indeed you can beam on a telephone call from somewhere in a ‘forward operating base’ (a military camp) at the front of the frontline in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He’s talking about the bazaar in Musa Qaleh, an iconic, deadly little town that has changed hands twice in this conflict, and which he has called home for the last four months. Mike is there because he volunteered as a ‘stabilisation adviser’ for the UK government’s Stabilisation Unit, which sends civilians to dispense their expertise in areas of the world that need more than just emergency humanitarian aid, but aren’t yet ‘stable’ enough for longer-term development work. The bazaar is one sign that things are changing for the better in Musa Qaleh, McKie believes. “When Musa Qaleh was this incredibly dangerous place, you’d have found a thriving bazaar all right, but it was based on an opium economy. Now, you find a thriving bazaar based on licit practice. If we were to walk down there on a Monday or a Wednesday in particular, it would be filled with people and animals. We have a thriving livestock market on those days. “It’s got that very typical ‘emerging economy’ smell you might associate with other developing countries around the world,” he enthuses. “There is a buzz of income generation.” Mike McKie used to head up operations for Save the Children in southern Sudan, and has the unflappable air of someone who is used to working in some of the world’s livelier places.

AFGHANISTAN POPULATION 25 million AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY 43 years AVERAGE PER CAPITA INCOME $335 Afghanistan sits at the crossroads of the Middle East, China and central and southern Asia. It was once the prosperous hub of one of the world’s most important trade routes, but following 30 years of conflict it is now one of the poorest countries in the world. Half of the population live below the international poverty line. The country’s economy is dependent on illegal opium cultivation, and insecurity across most of the country combines with a widespread fear of corruption. The UK’s priorities in Afghanistan are: to increase Afghan-led security until the country becomes stable; to make government more effective and reduce corruption; to create jobs and encourage economic growth; to provide alternatives to poppy growing; to build regional relationships. A cyclist on one of the main streets of Losh Kagar, capital of Helmand Province.

Find out more at www.dfid.gov.uk/afghanistan

“When I arrived here in early August, it was a little bit hairy. But after the end of the election, things have settled down. It’s no worse than any other place I’ve worked in the world where you would expect to find the odd bang here or there.” His role, he explains, is “to design projects and programmes intended to bring about political stability”. Specifically, he’s working with the recently installed mayor, the district governor, the district director of education, and the health services. One project he has helped initiate is “a hybrid power-generation idea”. In Musa Qaleh, electricity is only available for two days a week. “I’ve been able to supplement their supply,” he explains, “by installing a generator that can be turned on when the power goes off. The net effect is that it’s run by the local government through the mayor. It will provide a source of income for the municipality, and will help the government dispense its responsibilities to the population.” Everyone’s a winner. The Stabilisation Unit, established at the end of 2004, is jointly ‘owned’ by the Department for International Development, the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Led by Richard Teuten, the Unit had a chance to demonstrate its cutting edge at the end of 2005, when it was asked to lead a ‘provincial reconstruction team’ (PRT) to design an operational plan for the UK’s engagement in Helmand. “It was by no means perfect,” recalls Teuten. “But it was a step forward.” On a recent trip to Helmand, General McChrystal, the US commander of the war in Afghanistan, said that he thought the PRT was “a model for the rest of Afghanistan”. In early 2006, a PRT was established in Basra, to unify various UK ‘stability’ initiatives into one organisation. The issues the UK faces can often be complex, Teuten points out. So, in Somalia, for instance, “you have a range of concerns around a mix of terrorists, potential migration flows, humanitarian suffering, and the possibility of instability affecting neighbouring countries. “We help Departments across the UK government work out the relationship between those concerns, the relative importance of each to the UK, the tools we can use to address those –

AFGHANISTAN

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SECURITY & STABILITY “There is real progress in Helmand – increasing numbers of districts in which the governor, the district governor and the government are meeting the needs of the people. And where the people are seeing the government as the main source of authority.”

and then help develop a strategy that sets an aim, a series of objectives, and the activities needed to achieve those objectives.” The Stabilisation Unit is operating in a range of countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Georgia, Kosova and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It has been actively recruiting, in order to cope with its expanding mandate. The permanent staff based in Whitehall is increasing from 35 to 66 in the next few months, and its pool of individuals outside government has grown from 600 to 1,000. Around 120 are deployed in any one month, of which 70 to 80 come from this pool of civilians; the rest are police. There are stabilisation advisers in each of the seven ‘forward operating bases’ in Helmand. And this really is frontline work, despite Mike McKie’s cool. “No environment is riskfree,” admits Richard Teuten. “And it’s not for everybody. The people who volunteer for this kind of work are those who feel they can make a difference to the Afghans who have been suffering so badly, or the people of Darfur, or those in eastern DRC. “They have a sense of wanting to be a part of an international effort to resolve a problem and make a difference for the people of that country.” The story they tell about why the UK is there, of course, is crucial for a collective sense of purpose and vocation. “In Afghanistan,” he explains, “the narrative is now much clearer: we are there to protect the British public, to control the risk of terrorism. We are not there primarily to control the drugs, but we recognise that drugs are linked with the terrorism and insurgency.” Mike McKie agrees about the power of the story, but likes to see it from another angle. “The better story to be told is what they tell about us,” he maintains. “The district governor here was formerly part of the insurgency, and then decided to move over to the Afghan government and disassociate himself with the insurgency altogether. His message to his own people is that the coalition forces are not the enemy. Rather, he talks about the insurgency as the enemy of Afghanistan. And that’s a very refreshing change in my opinion. I simply reinforce that when I meet people south, north, east or west of Musa. In fact, the outward attitude of the ordinary Afghan is a welcoming one.” McKie is pleased with the successes of the Stabilisation Unit. The fact that Musa Qaleh

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now has a mayor, for example, and an embryonic district council, at which members of the community will be encouraged to make their own decisions on how to administer funds made available to them by government. “They’re moving on, now, to think about taking on development initiatives for themselves.” Which is surely the point. There is a palpable sense of optimism about the nature of such progress – which is not always communicated through the mainstream media. “It’s a much more difficult story to tell on television, than the sad loss of military colleagues,” confirms Richard Teuten. “But there is real progress in Helmand – increasing numbers of districts in which the governor and the government are meeting the needs of the people. And where the people are seeing the government as the main source of authority.” Mike McKie’s stint in Helmand finishes in July, but “the way things are going,” he says, “I’m already thinking about extending my time here. We are moving into such exciting times where serious changes are just over the brow of the hill.”

THE STABILISATION UNIT The Stabilisation Unit is a joint venture between DFID, FCO and MOD. It provides specialist assistance to countries affected by conflict. The unit draws on a pool of advisers – a few from the military, but most from civilian life – with expertise in working in unstable regions. The unit has just launched a 1,000-strong Civilian Stabilisation Capacity (CSC) which makes up this pool of advisers. The CSC is comprised of specialist advisers from the public and private sectors. This includes over 200 UK civil servants from over 20 government departments. At any one time the unit has the capability to deploy up to 200 advisers; around 70 are deployed by the Unit at the moment. The unit works mostly alongside the UK armed forces. Its main engagement is in Afghanistan but it also works in support of international peacekeeping in countries such as Kosovo, Sudan and DRC. Find out more at www.stabilisationunit.gov.uk

The construction sector can create jobs and help rebuild countries. © George Osodi/Panos

HANDLE WITH CARE Once they were called ‘low income countries under stress’. Then ‘difficult partnerships‘. It was Oxford economist Paul Collier who coined the phrase ‘fragile states’ and his influential study The Bottom Billion which illuminated how corruption and political instability keep so many people in poverty. He told Developments of the four ‘critical priorities’ vulnerable countries face.

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE WORLD COULD GET BY WITH IGNORING FRAGILE STATES. NOT ANY LONGER? Not so long ago there were five billion people living in poor countries that were stuck. And now there’s about one billion living in poor countries that are stuck. Four billion people are living in countries that have been developing pretty fast, converging with the rest of mankind. There are still lots of poor people in them, but they’re living in societies that are making progress. And that makes a huge difference, because those societies are offering hope. And then among the countries that are stuck – what I call the bottom billion – is a minority or maybe half of these countries – that are really not even able to deliver the most fundamental public goods to their citizens. And those are what I think of as fragile states.

IS IT THE CASE THAT WITHOUT FIRST ACHIEVING SECURITY, THESE COUNTRIES CAN’T REALLY DEVELOP? Clearly, macro level insecurity – when the state itself is in jeopardy and doesn’t control its territory – makes any form of economic development very hard. Because intrinsic to economic development is investment, and you’re not going to get much investment in an environment of macro insecurity. I think the way out of these environments is a very limited, very focused package because the capacity for change in these societies is very limited. Often the government’s not able to do very much, and people have no self-belief in

their society. It’s got to be kept simple. So you’ve got to start from the critical priorities and it doesn’t reduce to one.

BUT OF THE CRITICAL PRIORITIES, SECURITY WOULD ALWAYS BE ONE? Security will always be one, and usually that means international provision of security. Every situation is unique but very often with fragile states international provision of security would be central. A second priority is going to be replacing social services and that’s important twice over. One is that social provision in these societies is deplorable, so we’re looking at chronic need. And secondly social provision is the main way in which governments are going to be seen to be visibly doing something that benefits ordinary people. I don’t believe that legitimacy is achieved primarily through elections. We think of elections as generating legitimate and accountable governments, but honest elections depend upon a load of checks and balances and institutions, which take a long time to build and are missing in these societies. So legitimacy of government in these societies has to come through government visibly doing simple but important things for the people. This means basic health, basic education, some roads… high profile things that help with social provision and help the economy to get on its feet.

PAUL COLLIER is professor of economics and director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University. His 2008 book The Bottom Billion asked “why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it?” His 2009 book Wars, Guns and Votes, looked at “democracy in dangerous places”, and how poor countries can find long-term peace and security. In 2010, The Plundered Planet will “confront the global mismanagement of nature” and “chart a course between unchecked profiteering on the one hand and environmental romanticism on the other”.

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ALONG WITH SECURITY AND SOCIAL SERVICES, WHAT’S NEXT? The third element has got to be jobs, especially jobs for young men – because they’re the epicentre of trouble. You don’t get many rebel groups staffed predominantly by elderly women. So we need to generate a lot of jobs for young men. That’s not going to be done directly by public employment because that’s fiscally unsustainable. And the government doesn’t have the management capability to run big public enterprises as a business. So it has to be essentially the private sector, but that’s difficult because for any activities which are internationally tradeable, like manufacturing, a fragile state is rarely competitive. Fragile states usually have too much going against them for global manufacturers to be wiling to locate in them. So if you rule out sectors such as the garment trade which have to compete headon with foreign-produced goods, you’re left with what economists call the ‘non-tradeables’. And the key is the construction sector. The construction sector produces structures. You can’t import a building – it has to be built in the country, so it is naturally protected. It can be very labour intensive and it employs young men – pretty unskilled many of them. And what do these fragile states need? Many are post-conflict and what is needed is reconstruction. So this is to my mind the sector which can be really scaled up.

BREAKDOWN & RECOVERY

GOOD GOVERNANCE “Legitimacy of government has to come through government visibly doing simple but important things for the people: basic health, basic education, some roads…”

So leg three is to expand jobs and the one big one is the construction sector. If you can do that it’s win-win because you get the jobs and you get the structures.

AND THE FOURTH LEG? This is about accountable government. And I’ve got to come down to something specific – with fragile states the politics starts very badly in two senses. You’ve got a lot of crooks in politically powerful positions because crooks have got the money and you get power by patronage. And the other is this pervading sense of hopelessness, and the belief that the only way I can go up is if you go down – that the pot we’re fighting over is fixed, and if I have it, you don’t. There’s no winwin. That’s a zero sum game. We can’t cooperate in that environment. We fight, either literally or metaphorically. So, with this combination of crooks in power – because they’ve got the money and patronage – and the mentality of the zero sum game, there isn’t the basis to deliver socially useful solutions. But you break that cycle with good politics, which it follows rather than leads the process of escape in two senses. One is the mentality: if you have a decade of fast growth (perfectly possible in these societies because there are so many opportunities), then after a decade or so people start to change their mentality from zero sum. The economy growing means win-win, the psychology changes from zero sum to what’s called positive sum – “if we cooperate we both gain”. However it takes time to shift the mentality. Secondly, you have to squeeze out the patronage politicians… And the best way of doing that is to make it impossible to loot the public purse. This is where donors are important and why governance conditionality is key. It means trying to insist that the government be accountable to its own citizens. Not “this is what it must be spent on”, but “this is the process by which it must be spent”. When Paddy Ashdown wrote his book about his experiences as grand high representative for

Bosnia, he concluded that “what I needed was not doctors without frontiers, it was accountants without frontiers.” And that seems to me dead right… It’s our responsibility as donors to make sure the money can’t be looted. Because if it’s looted, it’s captured by crooks and that empowers the crooks, and compounds the problem. If you close the spigot of looted money and build the economy over a decade, I think the politics will change. So the last leg is the slow process of changing the politics. And I don’t believe there’s a quick process. It’s this two-prong strategy: rapid economic development gives hope and changes the mentality, and it closes off the lootable money and if the crooks can’t get money, they’re less inclined to hang on.

SECURITY, SOCIAL SERVICES, JOBS AND ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT – ARE THERE ANY OTHER KEY STEPS IN ESCAPING THE FAILED STATE? The important thing is getting started. Getting started is very hard. I worked with the Ugandans through the 1990s and at the start of that period they were a classic fragile state. By the end of it they were growing fast, they were confident, the president was ambitious for development and they were all going well. After you get out of the range of fragile statehood, we kind of know what we’re doing more. It becomes a normal developing country. Opportunities differ but there’s no substitute for taking some sort of strategic view of your opportunities. Rwanda, for example, knows it’s got very limited opportunities. It’s landlocked, a lot of land pressure, big population. so it’s trying to make a go at e-services, which over a 20-year horizon is a very sensible vision. Uganda’s just discovered oil. Fantastic opportunities! Uganda’s going to get $50bn in oil! So everything in Uganda now depends on, can they invest that sensibly, or do they just fritter it way. All solutions have to work in the short run, because if they don’t work in the short run, you don’t get to the long run. So the key challenge is to find steps which work in the short run but which lead towards a viable long run. But usually this four-fold approach has not been followed. Security has been absolutely separated from the other strategies. Aid hasn’t been linked to good governance. There hasn’t been a focus on jobs. But these are not hopeless environments. In all of these societies there are amazing, brave, dedicated people struggling for change. They’re facing people who’ve got money and are often violent. We’ve got to try and make it harder for the crooks to win, and change the mentality so that a critical mass of people begin to realise that by cooperation, everyone can win.

BREAKDOWN & RECOVERY

JOB CREATION Employee of Terracom, a telecommunication firm, working at their main office in Kigali, Rwanda. Sven Torfinn/Panos

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“You need to expand jobs, and the one big one is the construction sector. If you can do that it’s win-win because you get the jobs and you get the structures.”

Afghan women are on a learning curve. Yannis Kontos/Polaris

do now go to school, many of their mothers remain illiterate. A DFID programme in the central province of Bamiyan is not only teaching women to read and write, it introduces them to other skills like animal husbandry, horticulture and embroidery. “Before, women couldn’t contribute much beyond basic household duties and looking after children,” says Fatima Resai, a literacy coordinator for the programme. “Now, they help generate a family’s income. Their independence has increased. They can go to market and help run the family’s business. And they can go to the doctor by themselves and understand the doses on medicines.” “I’ve been taught cooking and food preparation, and I’ve also been taught the benefits of vaccination,” says Zainab, 30, mother of four. “We used to ignore the vaccinators that came to our village, but I now understand how important vaccination is for the health of my children.” Fatima, 28, can now plough a field and grow vegetables. “Previously, I didn’t appreciate that I could make a contribution to my family’s income, I thought agriculture was just for men!”

BUSINESS AND EMPLOYMENT

COMMUNITY COUNCILS In Lashkar Gah, provincial capital of Helmland, 30 years of conflict have led to serious neglect and underinvestment, with many people unable to access drinking water, sewerage, drains and footpaths. But as part of a programme funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) and UN-Habitat, 14 all-female community councils have been established to identify and prioritise the major needs of each individual community. Decisions made by these (and the other mixed gender councils) have led to the building of 31 water pumps, allowing 20,000 people to access safe drinking water, the construction of three new water towers, the extension of drainage to more than 19% of the city’s people and the provision of waste management facilities in over 65% of the city.

LITERACY AND SKILLS In conservative rural areas of Afghanistan, work and education have traditionally not been open to women and girls. While many more girls

In the capital Kabul, 35-year-old Nasreem is the owner of a carpet weaving and embroidery business, employing 20 women and catering to a steady client base. But less than a decade ago, she and her family were living in exile in Pakistan, having fled the Taliban. When the Taliban fell, the family returned to their homeland, where Nasreem just about made ends meet through casual work as a weaver It was only when she heard of a DFID-backed microfinance scheme – the Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA) – operating in the area that the chance of a more stable and independent life opened up. After impressing MISFA’s manager with a demonstration of her embroidery skills, Nasreem was rewarded with a start-up loan worth 30,000 afghanis (around £500) to buy the materials needed to get the business off the ground. Two further loans allowed her to take on new staff and turn out more carpets and handwoven items. Profits are good, but the fact that she has created jobs is the biggest source of satisfaction for Nasreem. “It’s a great honour for me,” she says. “I really feel happy that I’m helping these women, that I’m providing them with some money.”

AFGHANISTAN WHERE WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS If conflicts are usually started by men, women are central in rebuilding communities afterwards. Increasingly they are seen as the ones who can ignite engines of small business. Devalued under the Taliban, today in Afghanistan longterm support is helping women become significant players.

GENDER DEFENDER Justice for women in Pakistan Jamila, repeatedly beaten and abused by her husband, was forced to run away, leaving her daughter behind. So desperate did she become that she was on the brink of taking her own life. And her story is not unusual. In Pakistan, too often women come a very poor second. The World Economic Forum 2009 Global Gender Gap report puts Pakistan at 132 out of 134 countries, behind Yemen and Chad. In fragile states and those affected by conflict, women are often at risk. According to the UN, violence against women is a major cause of death and disability in women between the ages of 15-45 worldwide. And, as many as one in three women are beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused. Violent conflict is often sustained by distorted ideals of ‘what a man should be’. When men and boys don’t earn an income or feel excluded from decisions that affect them, their sense of powerlessness often compels them to join armed groups to give them a sense of power and ‘manhood’. Leaders of these groups exploit this: in Rwanda, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, for example, a report from the Centre for Human Dialogue, found that local leaders coerced and manipulated young men and boys to take up arms, telling them that they will be ‘real men’ if they do so. Jamilia’s story did not end with tragedy. A neighbour came to the rescue. She showed her another way out by putting her in touch with a local crisis intervention centre, supported by the Department of International Development (DFID). She now has full custody of her daughter and is filing for maintenance support to start a new life free from the threat of abuse. “I lost hope,” recalls Jamila but [now] I am happy to get my daughter back”. The UN Gender Justice Programme in Pakistan, which DFID funds, works to help women, like Jamila, who suffer domestic violence, or are the victims of honour crimes, or legal, economic or inheritance discrimination. Local frontline agencies, such as Bedari and the Acid Survivors Foundation, provide a lifeline of psychological counselling, legal support, medical treatment and referral services. As well as supporting victims, it is taking steps to prevent violence in the first place. CHIP (Civil Society Human and Institutional Development), for example, works to help communities to think differently about topics which are normally taboo (such as domestic violence) using popular community puppet theatre such as the Happy Families, Happy Village, Happy Pakistan show. Civil society groups contributed to Pakistan’s groundbreaking Women’s Protection Bill and the Criminal Law Amendment Bill passed in November 2009. And they continue to encourage policy changes needed to secure women’s rights in Pakistan.

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A military guard leaves a fishing boat after helping it into the Indian Ocean in the coastal village of Eyl. The town is a base for local pirates, and piracy has fuelled the local economy. © Frederic Courbet/Panos

SOMALIA POPULATION 7.7 million AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY 48 years Somalia has not had a functioning national government since civil war began in 1991. Around 40% of Somalis needed relief assistance in 2009 – starvation and disease continue to pose the largest threat. UKaid is funding a job creation programme providing earning opportunities for young people on the Puntland coast, who might otherwise be drawn into piracy. DFID’s priorities are: governance and peace building; security; health and education services; hunger and humanitarian aid.

Find out more at www.dfid.gov.uk/somalia SOMALIA

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iracy is big news, with Somalia regularly in the frame. Pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast have increased dramatically in recent years. There were 168 reported incidents by the autumn of 2009, up from 111 in the whole of 2008, which in turn was almost double those in 2007. These represent harrowing ordeals for the victims, but major commercial, security and developmental interests are also at stake. Yet there is very little hard information about the phenomenon. Pirates operate in international waters where jurisdiction is often unclear. Those operating close to Somalia have targeted ships from around the world, using international networks to plan operations and demand ransoms. So far, the international community’s response has involved armed convoys and rescue missions. But there’s a risk that this simply tackles piracy’s symptoms and not its underlying causes. These may require development, as well as security, solutions. There is increasing evidence that Somalilinked piracy – despite its global reverberations – grew out of localised problems of insecurity and loss of livelihoods, particularly in the regions of Puntland and Mudug. Since 1991, the dominance of warlords and prevailing insecurity in Somalia contributed to state fragmentation, and undermined its economic potential. The coastline has reportedly become a dumping ground for hazardous waste. And, according to press reports, tuna, shrimp and lobster worth more than $300m are stolen each year through illegal fishing.

WHY PIRATES ATTACK What lies behind the alarming increase in piracy off the coast of Somalia, and what can we do about it? Leni Wild reports. Just under half Somalia’s population are thought to live below the poverty line. Extensive deforestation has decimated livelihoods – a recent food security assessment found that more than 3 million people faced an acute food, nutrition and livelihood crisis. While little accurate information exists, a report to the UN Security Council suggests that the most prominent pirate groups may have their roots in fishing communities along the Somali coast, where livelihoods have been affected by dumping and excessive illegal fishing. But there is speculation that some of the ‘rank and file’ pirates also come from pastoralist communities, affected by natural disasters and food insecurity, and from warlord factions. At the same time, Somalia appears to be the hub for an increasing number of regional and global piracy networks. So, besides using warships to protect the shipping lanes, how do we respond to this issue? First, the phenomenon of Somali-linked piracy needs to be better understood and analysed from a development perspective. This requires analysis at regional, national and subnational levels, and a focus on the political, social and

economic dynamics of specific communities. At the same time the capacity of the Somali state needs building. And Somalis need alternative livelihoods – there are three possible options

This article is based on an Overseas Development Institute blog co-authored with Timothy Othieno. Find out more www.odi.org.uk

A focus on coastguard training and building the capacity of security forces in Puntland, for example, would help reinstate authority and the rule of law. An economic package is needed to meet immediate development needs and create job opportunities which provide alternatives to piracy. Regenerating fishing communities and creating jobs along the coast, combined with investment in schooling and healthcare, would be one way forward. The prevalence of warlords and insurgent groups across Somalia allows pirates to prosper. The international community needs to reach out to key figures in Somalia to work towards a long-term ceasefire and peace process. The best response to this current form of piracy on the high seas may well lie in tackling Somalia’s underlying development challenges on land.

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REGENERATING COMMUNITIES “Regenerating fishing communities, and creating jobs along the coast – combined with investment in schooling and healthcare – would help provide alternatives to piracy.”

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GROWING ON HARD LAND Gradually, food production is replacing narcotics Prosperity will be hard-won in Afghanistan. It starts with people being able to get legitimate jobs, grow food rather than poppy, and earn enough money to climb from poverty. Nah Sarang, 25, a farmer in Gereshk, Helmand province, wants to expand his business. With 30 people in his family, he needs to. But while he farms in one of Afghanistan’s most fertile areas, his wheat and corn has not been the most lucrative crop in recent years. Those cultivating opium poppies have made a lot more money. Only if legitimate farming can prove sustainable for local businessmen like Nah, will the risks of the black market economy seem less attractive – and the regional population find vital local food arriving in their own markets. That’s the impetus behind a loan scheme backed by the Department for International Development (DFID), which has supported nearly 1,500 microfinance clients, including farmers, in Helmland. Nah Sarang has received 100,000 Afghanis (£1,250) to buy seed, fertiliser and materials. He says it’s proving money well spent.

“The loan allows me to farm twice as much land as before,” he explains. “So I grow more food to sell in the mayor’s market. With the loans that my brothers and I have received we are in a better position to provide for our family.” Money is provided via the Afghan government to the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) and is distributed through Islamic Investment and Finance Cooperatives (IIFCs) to members. The loans are part of a package to boost counternarcotics work, by giving farmers incentives to plant legal food crops rather than illegal poppy. DFID’s partnership with WOCCU is part of broader UK support to encourage agricultural and rural development in Helmand. Other activities include help for the production and marketing of local fruits, nuts and vegetables, and building roads so that farmers and entrepreneurs can get their goods to market. It’s been a similar story of growth and employment for 44-year-old Deena, who lives near Lashkar Gar town. After spending five years in exile in Pakistan, Deena and her husband returned to Helmand when the Taliban fell in 2002. But during their absence, their land had been turned over to poppy cultivation. “My husband continued to grow poppy,” says Deena. “It was easy – it was already there and we got a good price for it.” But when the poppy was eradicated by the

government, not only did the family lose their income, they also discovered that the years of poppy-growing made the land harder to cultivate for other crops. The turnaround in their fortunes came with the provision of wheat seeds and fertiliser in a scheme initiated by Helmand’s governor, Gulab Mangal. Homayoon, Deena’s husband, was back in business, on the 18 hectares he farms with his two brothers… supporting an extended family of 60. “It will be good not to worry about feeding my family, and not to pay money to the Taliban,” he says. “Opium is a forbidden crop and I’ve seen its effects on young people in Afghanistan. I’m glad not to be growing it anymore.” There are signs that the economy of Helmand is growing. This year saw the opening of the third branch of the first national retail bank, and development of the UK-funded Shamalan canal has improved irrigation for 10,000 farmers. DFID’s activities in Helmand are coordinated with USAID’s, which recently helped turn a gravel airstrip at Bost airfield into a tarmac runway – creating the only completely civilian airstrip in southern Afghanistan – opening up the province for trade. Further investment will fund access roads, security fencing and a new administration block for a business centre alongside the airfield. The centre will host the processing of farmers’ produce from Helmand valley for delivery to markets across the country.

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LEGITIMATE BUSINESS Only if legitimate farming can prove sustainable for local businessmen will the risks of the black market economy seem less attractive – and the regional population find vital local food arriving in their own markets.

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STEP BY STEP However fragile the state of a country, there is a path to stability and prosperity. Clare Lockhart, co-author of Fixing Failed States, highlights key steps on the way. we’re going to develop the capability within our ministries to design the project and manage it properly. And then we’re going to partner with the private sector, the construction companies, to create a level playing field.” Instead of concluding that local construction companies don’t have the capacity, and so bringing in foreign companies, they asked how to help domestic industry acquire the capacity. These countries established a private-public partnership model geared to updating domestic firms so they had the capacity, and using public housing as a driver. That created a virtuous circle between the use of the aid money, contracting to domestic firms to create the jobs and then building the public housing. Aid can be very useful if it’s designed right but there are many other instruments – including market development and trade access – and different types of partnerships that government and the private sector can create. So we must see development instruments in a much broader context. For example, from Afghanistan to Nepal and any number of other countries at present, one of the things that would be a game-changer would be market access for their products – both domestically in the region and in foreign markets. If, for example, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose were to make available a supermarket shelf for Afghan pomegranates, or saffron, or tea from Nepal, those kind of measures would be multipliers of the aid investment. Another example of smart aid is the way a $20m risk guarantee was used in Afghanistan in the telecom sector to enable a billion dollar investment in seven million phones across the country. That $20m was underwritten by the public sector, but it was never called upon. We need more of this kind of imaginative aid which can be highly effective. Of course in some situations the focus must be on life-saving, humanitarian support for the population, but what we must be careful about is that the provision of that support doesn’t become self-perpetuating. A lot of vested interests are created in the continuation of that support which is why we need to look carefully at how political settlements and peace agreements are created. Do they just paper over the cracks? Or can they can be made to work better at addressing the underlying causes of conflict and contention? What all these factors show is that failed states, over time, can become successful and prosperous as long as the process is driven by local people with a commitment to serving their country, and to finding the right partnerships with the outside world. Clare Lockhart is author, with Ashraf Ghani, of Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding A Fractured World (OUP). She was talking to Martin Wroe.

everal countries have successfully moved from fragility to stability in recent decades. Just look at the Transparency International Index to see how countries that have been near the bottom have shot up 20 or 30 places. Even within Europe we’ve got shining examples from the reconstruction of postwar Europe and Japan under the Marshall Plan. Look at Spain after Franco or Accession countries after the fall of the Soviet Union. The Singapore of Lee Kuan Yew wasn’t considered viable as a country, but look at it today. Or look at Mozambique, Botswana, Chile, Peru, and so many examples from east Asia. And several key factors stand out as having driven successful transformation in these countries. The first is the consolidation of security and peace. History suggests that there are many imaginative ways that peace agreements can be brought about. Lasting security comes not from a huge army and repression, but from a just economic and social order, which means that just governance and other factors become really important. But there is a baseline of security first and a just political agreement. We can’t do development in the middle of a war zone. Another critical driver has been leadership and management. History often talks about one great man, but when we delve into these situations it’s often a team of people working across religious or ethnic or social boundaries. They come together with a long-term vision and commit to working for success over the next couple of decades. They are also willing to be flexible, there is a problem-solving attitude. Another factor has been an absolute commitment to public accountability with an understanding that the resources of the country belong to the public purse. There is a wonderful story of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore travelling to Washington for a World Bank meeting and visiting the zoo. “When I get back I’m going to build an aviary,” he said. And his aide asked, “Why an aviary, why not a zoo?” Lee Kuan Yew replied, “We can afford bird feed, we can’t afford meat.” It captures that sense of watching the resources of the country. These leaders exhibited a kind of a zero tolerance attitude to corruption which means being willing to confront it at an early stage and to take people to court. You need to invest in higher education and skills for the people and you need an understanding that you need to focus on job creation, and get the firms of the country going – usually starting with the construction industry. This is the way to create a lot of jobs and get a lot of small to medium sized firms going, and create stakes for people in their future. Sometimes this is kick-started with the imaginative use of aid. The Spanish did that with structural funds from Europe, Lee Kuan Yew did it with World Bank loans. Both Spain and Singapore said, “We do need aid money but

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TRUSTWORTHY LEADERSHIP “History talks about one great man, but it’s often a team of people working across religious, ethnic or social boundaries, with a long-term vision and a problem-solving attitude.”

BREAKDOWN & RECOVERY

SECURITY & GOOD GOVERNANCE “Lasting security comes not from a huge army and repression, but from a just economic and social order, which means that just governance and other factors become really important.”

DEVELOPMENTS 48 | 21

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STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONS As countries rebuild we need to use the courts, tribunals, truth commissions and other institutions for confronting the impunity of politicians and armed forces.

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WRONGS NEED RIGHTS Irene Khan – Secretary General of Amnesty International – believes human rights should be at the centre of efforts to end poverty and that freedom of expression is vital in the most vulnerable countries. She talks to Georgina Kenyon. “THE POOR ARE NOT HEARD” Poverty is essentially about powerlessness. Poverty is characterised by many elements – for example conflict, lack of land tenure, joblessness, and gender violence. But underlying poverty is a lack of power and a voicelessness. The poor are not heard. ‘Voice’ means more than the right to protest. Giving poor people a voice means giving them information about the development choices available, including the expenditure of public funds. It also means that the state needs to respond to the claims and concerns of poor people. To insist on the rights of people living in poverty is to focus on those who have been excluded throughout history. They are the new forgotten prisoners.

“WHY AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL IS CAMPAIGNING FOR MATERNAL RIGHTS” Globally, poverty affects more women than men – 70% of the world’s poor are women. For instance, worldwide, one woman dies every minute because of childbirth or complications during pregnancy. This is why Amnesty is campaigning for maternal rights. For example, in Sierra Leone, maternal health is extremely poor and there is a dysfunctional health system. But the real reason as to why women are not being cared for medically is because they have so little power. Another example is in the Hera province of Afghanistan where there is one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world, with 87% of women saying in a recent report that they had to ask permission from their husbands or male relatives before they could go to a doctor. Women have the right to access healthcare. Governments are responsible for providing those services. Governments should be held answerable if they fail to do so.

“I WANT MORE EMPHASIS ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN DEVELOPMENT” In international development, there is far too much emphasis on economics and not rights. NGOs and governments need to ask, “how do we put human rights into a poverty reduction strategy?” So often rights are seen as obstacles. I would like to see more emphasis on human rights in development. We need to see that participatory rights are incorporated and integral in development strategies. We do not recommend development on its own as a way to help people out of poverty. For example, we do not recommend the China model – where they have achieved development at a cost. They do not value human rights enough. Other countries like the US do not value other human rights – like universal access to healthcare. In development we need a holistic approach to rights.

“VIOLENCE HAS A DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT ON POOR WOMEN”

For women in poverty, in both war and peace, insecurity manifests itself most commonly as sexual violence. Violence has a disproportionate impact on poor women. This is because poverty and insecurity provide little escape or redress, and fewer opportunities for women to assert themselves and claim power over their lives. Poverty is both a cause and a consequence of violence.

By adversely affecting their health, education and work opportunities, the violence they face deepens the poverty trap they are in.

“OFTEN WOMEN FIND LIFE SAFER IN PRISON” Amnesty is currently working with women’s groups to give women more control over their lives in Afghanistan. For example, women are often abducted and raped – and then frightened to go back home where they fear reprisal from their families. Sometimes they are caught by police and put into prison. However, often a woman finds it safer in prison because if her family find out she has disgraced the family honour by being raped, her family may kill her. We are trying to give these women a voice to talk about domestic and other violence and give them ways to protect themselves.

“TALIBAN ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS ARE DESIGNED TO DISRUPT SOCIETY” There has been a strategy of widespread attacks on the civilian population in Afghanistan, carried out by the Taliban, designed to disrupt society. This was seen when the Taliban attacked the guesthouse in Kabul where United Nations staff were staying. At least six civilian UN staff were killed. Millions of Afghans remain dependent on international assistance for their basic needs – such as water, food, education and healthcare. Such an attack affects the work of aid workers to assist Afghan people, especially in the conflict-affected areas in the south and east.

“WE NEED TO IMPROVE OUR ABILITY TO HELP COUNTRIES REBUILD” Freedom of expression in fragile states, such as is seen in Afghanistan, is seriously threatened. For instance, journalists and media workers are very vulnerable to attacks of violence and intimidation by both the government and also antigovernment forces. We need to improve our ability to help countries rebuild after wars so that they remain peaceful. Far too often the end of a war signifies continuing violence that leaves civilians, and women in particular, at risk. In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, rape and violence against women and girls reached epidemic proportions after an earlier peace treaty. As countries rebuild we need to use the courts, tribunals, truth commissions and other institutions for confronting the impunity of politicians and armed forces.

“WE MUST ALL FIND WAYS TO SUPPORT PEOPLE UNDER ATTACK” In 2008 we documented 37 countries that currently hold Prisoners of Conscience – people who are locked up simply for what they say or believe – and 81 countries with severe restrictions on freedom of expression and the press. People who are under attack should be the creators of solutions to their plight, but it is incumbent on all of us to find ways to support them. If we help people gain control over their lives, help them have a voice, this empowers them not only to face their economic and social problems better, but also to confront violence and conflict. Find out more www.amnesty.org

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EXCHANGE OF FIRE Thousands of former female fighters sidelined by Aceh’s peace process are getting business start-up packages, helping them to play a full part in the region’s economic recovery. Report by Nabiha Shahab.

anda Aceh at a glance looks no different from other provincial capitals in Indonesia. It is a bustling, colourful city filled with traditional shops and buzzing with tricycle taxis. A closer look reveals the ruins from the Indian Ocean tsunami, a legacy of the massive disaster in 2004 which claimed around 230,000 lives. Aceh, the westernmost province of Indonesia is now at peace after decades of conflict. On 15 August, 2005, in the aftermath of the tsunami, the Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement signed an accord in Helsinki ending 30 years of armed conflict. The predominantly Muslim province is now led by a former member of the resistance and the government’s focus is on reconciliation and economic growth. In any conflict women, children and the elderly are caught in the crossfire. However, thousands of Acehnese women joined their men, some as informants and couriers, some to carry arms and fight battles. Asmanidar is 32 and a former fighter. She became a commander in the resistance 10 years ago, and used her parents’ brick factory as a meeting place for her fighter friends. “We cooked and got supplies for our friends in the hills, but never in our homes,” she says, “as the authorities already suspected our involvement”. Asmanidar met her husband, also a fighter, during the conflict but she didn’t follow him when he gave himself up before the peace agreement was signed in 2005. Like many

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INDONESIA POPULATION 228.8 million AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY 70 years AVERAGE PER CAPITA INCOME $3,580 Indonesia includes many ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups and sectarian tensions and separatism have led to violent confrontations undermining stability. With a substantial part of the world’s untapped resources in energy, minerals and agriculture, prosperity has risen for many in recent decades, but more than half the population live below the international poverty line. Indonesia is also dealing with the effects of the massive tsunami in 2004 and two major earthquakes.

Find out more at www.dfid.gov.uk/indonesia

ACEH

former female fighters, she was left out of the initial phase of reintegration. However, last year, Asmanidar started looking after her neighbour’s goats. When she heard there was an opportunity for former female fighters to receive European Commission aid, she asked for more goats of her own. Today her three children and eight goats spring around her feet. “All three of my children are a handful,” she says. “But for their sake I want to be a successful goat trader, maybe next time you come here I will be a goat trading boss and have 80 goats instead of eight.” A few kilometres away, Rais Naiyah, a young mother of 23, says she was only 12 when she became an informant for the Free Aceh Movement. Her task was to buy clothes, medicine and other provisions for the fighters. As a schoolgirl, at first it was easy enough to pass through security without suspicion, but one day Rais was caught. The authorities didn’t have enough proof to convict her and she fled to Peurelak in the south to work as a housemaid. Now back in Aceh, Rais looks after her sixmonth-old daughter and, together with her husband, runs a motorcycle repair business. “We just moved our shop to this new spot and more people drop by to repair their motorcycles,” she explains. ”The EC aid helped a lot to complete our shop. I requested tyres, oil and other items. Now if people need tyres, we have them in stock.” Rais and Asmanidar are two of more than 2,000 beneficiaries of a livelihood programme

INDONESIA

run by the NGO Terre des Hommes, Italy. They distribute aid to female ex-combatants, especially those who did not receive aid after peace was brokered in 2005. “Most women included in this project did not have a livelihood, many are illiterate so without the assistance they would not be engaged in any income generating activities”, says Akira Moretto, programme officer at Terre des Hommes. According to the UN’s women’s agency UNIFEM, it is common for former women fighters to be undervalued or ignored during peacetime. “Reintegration of women ex-combatants is a crucial component for the stability of the peace process,” says Moretto, “as women hold an important role

in households, in supporting husbands, and the wider communities they live in.” In spite of improvements to Aceh’s infrastructure following the tsunami, distributing the aid was no easy task, because many of the women live far from each other in remote areas. The project covers an area larger than the Netherlands and Luxembourg combined. The women will receive training in developing their business plans and they will also be linked up with local microfinancing institutions. “It is important for the women to be able to keep a record of their business. They have to understand that we will not be here for ever and they have to be able to develop their business on their own,” says Moretto.

BREAKDOWN & RECOVERY

A VISIBLE PATH TO PEACE “Reintegration of women ex-combatants is a crucial component for the stability of the peace process – as women hold an important role in households, in supporting husbands, and the wider communities they live in.”

“IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THE WOMEN TO BE ABLE TO KEEP A RECORD OF THEIR BUSINESS. THEY HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE WILL NOT BE HERE FOR EVER AND THEY HAVE TO BE ABLE TO DEVELOP THEIR BUSINESS ON THEIR OWN” Photographs © Fauzan Ijazah DEVELOPMENTS 48 | 25

College of Social Sciences

International Development Department

Some issues are too big to ignore The International Development Department (IDD) is dedicated to poverty reduction through the development of effective governance systems. We are a leading UK centre for postgraduate study of international development, and we also do practical, hands-on development work with governments and organisations around the world. Taught Masters International Development Poverty Reduction and Development

Management Aid Management Conflict, Security and Development Governance and Development

Management Urban Governance for Development Public Economic Management and

Finance International Political Economy of

Development Masters in Public Administration

Learn more: www.idd.bham.ac.uk or contact: On-campus: Postgraduate Admissions Manager Debra Beard +44 (0)121 414 5034 d.l.beard@bham.ac.uk or Distance learning: Linda Curry +44 (0)121 414 4969 distancelearning@contacts.bham.ac.uk quoting reference “DFID”

Distance Learning Public Administration and Development

(3 in takes per year) Poverty Reduction and Development

Management More distance learning programmes are planned and will be announced shortly on our website. Degrees by Research MPhil and PhD Our activities In addition to teaching, IDD academics are involved in international research, evaluation, consultancy and training for agencies such as DFID, Danida, African Development Bank, European Commission and United Nations. Our activities encompass Policy advice to donors and to developing and

transitional countries Academic research into cutting-edge

development issues Consultancy and evaluation work Tailored training for the public, donor and

voluntary sectors Knowledge management and information

dissemination Teaching and training of development leaders

and practitioners

IDD hosts two information services: Governance and Social Development Resource Centre www.gsdrc.org Providing access to the best thinking and research on governance, conflict and social development. Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform www.ssrnetwork.net Facilitating the exchange of theory, research and best practice on security sector reform.

It’s hard for children who have to flee their home country and make a life in another. But sometimes sport can make the difference. Pauline Diamond reports.

t’s a dream young boys across the world cherish. For most of them, playing football for their country will remain an idle fantasy but for Islam Feruz from Somalia, the far-fetched dream has become a reality. But Islam doesn’t play for Somalia – he plays for Scotland. The 14-year-old player is one of a growing number of professional footballers that came to the UK seeking refuge from persecution and violence. As well as showcasing their skills on the pitch, Islam and players like him are showing thousands of fans the range of talents that refugees bring with them when they come here. But while many may envy Islam’s inclusion in the Scotland squad, his journey from Somalia to northern Britain has not been easy. Somalia is one of the world’s most dangerous countries. Almost 20 years of conflict between rival factions and clans, combined with cycles of drought and flooding, have bequeathed a humanitarian emergency. Around 1.4 million Somalis have been displaced from their homes and a further half a million live as refugees in neighbouring countries around the Horn of Africa. Islam’s family fled the continued violence and sought asylum in the UK. When they arrived seven years ago, immigration authorities moved them to Glasgow, home to the UK’s largest asylum-seeking population outside London. Uprooted from all that was familiar, the family tried to get used to their new inner-city surroundings. Islam joined the local school, and it wasn’t long before a talent scout spotted his football skills. Despite his very different background, Islam found new friends among Celtic FC’s youth team and in October 2009 was called up for the national Scotland under-17 squad. Within weeks he’d scored his first international goal. “I have been very proud to live in Scotland,” says Islam. “It’s a great country which is now my home and I am very proud to wear the Scotland jersey. I’ll be working hard to do all I can to do my best for Scotland and to make the most of this opportunity.”

the lad’s done good

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Lualua came to the UK as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He played for several English teams including Newcastle United and Portsmouth, and captained the DRC national squad. He currently plays in Qatar.

Captain of Sunderland and midfielder for the Albanian national team. Born in Kosovo, Cana’s Albanian family fled the troubled region when he was seven and sought political asylum in Switzerland.

LOMANA LUALUA

LORIK CANA

PEDRAM ARDALANY

©A AS SP

Ardalany and his father fled political tensions in Iran and sought asylum in the UK when he was 15. He was signed by Scottish First Division club Partick Thistle, where fans labelled him the ‘Iranian Pele’.

MARIO STANIC Former midfielder with Chelsea, Stanic is a Bosnian refugee. Just as his football career took off in the early 1990s, widespread persecution of ethnic minorities in his home country forced him to seek refuge abroad.

CHRISTOPHER WREH A Liberian refugee, Wreh played for Arsenal from 1997-2000. He retired from football in 2005.

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Islam is the first player to represent Scotland under a change to the FIFA eligibility rule, designed to include refugees in the national sport. The new rule states that a player who holds a British passport and has been educated for at least five years in one of the home nations is eligible to play for that country. The rule change, which affects all UK national teams, was initiated by the chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, Gordon Smith. “I proposed the new eligibility rules to reflect the changes to our society in recent years,” explains Smith. “If a child comes to live and settle in Scotland for whatever reason, whether they be an immigrant or an asylum-seeker, why should they not be welcomed and be made to feel Scottish in this country? We feel that it’s unfair to exclude so many young people who have come to this country, grown up here, gone through their education here, played their football at Scottish clubs, and who feel Scottish.” Smith believes it’s time to recognise the contributions of the many nationalities that make up the UK and he hopes the new rules will promote social inclusion in football and outside the sport.

Celebrating with goalscorer Simon Cox at Sheffield Wednesday, Saido is pictured second from the left. He was named for the first time in the first-team’s travelling squad but just missed out on making the final substitute’s bench. Not bad for a 16-year-old! © West Bromwich Albion FC

nother young player to benefit from the rule change is Saido Berahino. Currently impressing fans in Birmingham, where he plays for West Bromwich Albion’s under18 squad, 16-year-old Saido is a refugee from Burundi, one of the world’s poorest countries. The east African country has been plagued by brutal ethnic violence since the mid 1990s. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled, seeking refuge in neighbouring Tanzania as well as further afield. While his mother began the long process of seeking asylum in the UK, Saido lived with his dad in Burundi until his father’s death in 1997. For the next six years he lived as a refugee in Tanzania until his mother, settled in Birmingham, heard that her application for asylum had been successful. She sent for her son, and he began a new life in Birmingham with his mother. One of the first things she did was look for a football team for her football-mad boy to join. Saido signed up with West Brom’s youth academy at the age of 11, and soon proved himself a valuable member of the squad and a prolific goal scorer. He is now tipped for a career in the English Premier League. After everything he’s experienced and achieved, Saido has one remaining ambition. “I want to play for England and go on to win the World Cup,” he says. While Islam and Saido’s achievements provide inspiration for young football fans, their skills and dedication – and their promotion by clubs – help to challenge negative beliefs about refugees and members of new communities in the UK. With its millions of fans across the country, football is a powerful platform on which to showcase refugees’ skills, and clubs are keen to use their influence to challenge racism and promote diversity. “Football has a very important part to play in promoting equality,” says Scott Field of the Football Association. “It is naturally diverse and as the world’s most popular sport, it’s in a powerful position to challenge discrimination, including racism in whatever form it takes both on and off the pitch, and to champion inclusion through football.”

The Football Association is a keen supporter of work to eradicate discrimination and to promote respect and tolerance within the game, including encouraging teams to welcome refugees onto to their squads. In 2007, Watford fans showed how much they valued a refugee member of their team. Their midfield player, Alhassan Bangura of Sierra Leone, had his asylum claim revoked when he turned 18 and faced being returned to west Africa. Alhassan had arrived in London at the age of 15. An unaccompanied minor, he was a victim of human trafficking, having fled the bloody clan rivalries in his home country. While playing football in a park, he was spotted by a talent scout and joined Watford’s youth squad in 2004. He soon rose through the ranks, playing for the Hertfordshire team in the Premier League. Although Alhassan had been granted asylum, his legal status changed when he turned 18 and he faced being forced to return to Sierra Leone. Fearing for his life in his home country, he appealed against the decision and received passionate support from his club and fans. Watford fans staged a half-time demonstration during a game against Plymouth Argyle. The entire stadium, including rival Argyle fans,

held up posters of Alhassan’s face with the words “he’s family” written beneath. Alhassan’s appeal to remain in the UK was successful and two years later, now playing for Blackpool, he says he’ll never forget the support of the Hertfordshire fans and the welcome he received in England. Last year the manager of the Sierra Leone national squad called Alhassan up for international duty. While he played a number of away matches for the team, he was unable to represent his country in games held in Sierra Leone. He still feared his life would be in danger if he returned to the land of his birth. It is a reminder that, although refugees may be granted safety in the UK, the problems and conflicts that forced them to flee their homes often remain unresolved. Islam, Saido and Alhassan’s talents and commitment to their teams show just how much refugees have to contribute. Their achievements remind fans that, despite their differences, refugees share the same hopes and dreams as they do. As Islam prepares once more to don the navy blue shirt of Scotland, young boys across the country can continue to dream of overcoming the odds and one day playing for their country.

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sea life MADAGASCAR MARINE ECOLOGY

On Madagascar, an innovative eco-tourism project is working to safeguard the marine environment and the communities who rely on it to survive. Ruth Rosselson reports.

n the west coast of Madagascar, around 200 km north of the nearest major town, lies the village of Andavadoaka. Most of the population live off the sea as they have done for centuries, fishing or hunting for octopus. With no paved roads to the village, the small sailing pirogues are not just fishing vessels but an important mode of transport. Life revolves around the sea and it is integral to the identity of the Vezo people of the area. While fishing used to be just for subsistence or trade with inland farmers, in recent years the community have been selling their catch to large fishing companies. However, the marine life is not as abundant as it once was and villagers have noticed a decline. Suzanne, 70, used to fish for octopus. “There aren’t as many as there used to be,” she says. “We used to catch up to 40 each time. Now, we’re lucky to get four or five.” She

remembers when the bay was teeming with fish, and the fishers could fill their pirogues with little effort. “Now they must go much further, and they still don’t catch as many,” she says. The reason for the decline in fish stocks isn’t just down to overfishing. In 1998 and 2000, over 300 km of Madagascar’s coral reefs suffered from mass bleaching episodes, resulting in the loss of up to 99% of their coral. Along with the threat of climate change and pollution, the reefs and abundant life they support are now seriously at risk. The growth of the coastal population, due to migration and larger families, places a greater burden on a fragile environment. The remote location means that Andavadoaka is an unlikely tourist destination. Yet, this has not deterred Blue Ventures, a British not-for-profit organisation, from attracting paying volunteers to expeditions based in the village. Every six

MADAGASCAR POPULATION 19.6 million AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY 62 years AVERAGE PER CAPITA INCOME $996 Covering more than 587,000 sq km and with more than 5000 km of coastline, Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island, after Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo. The south-western coast of Madagascar supports the fourth largest continuous coral reef system in the world, extending more than 300 km.

ANDAVADOAKA

SCA

The marine waters of Madagascar are home to 70% of all species found in the Western Indian Ocean.

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Among the 6,000 species known to live off Madagascar’s coasts are giant clams, humpback whales, 829 species of fish, 400 species of coral, more than 56 species of sharks and five species of endangered marine turtles.

21 villages have joined the Velondriake partnership, which means ‘to live with the sea’. DEVELOPMENTS 48 | 31

weeks, the volunteers arrive in Andavadoaka, where they are trained in scuba diving and marine sciences, helping to collect information on these little-studied reefs. Hundreds of marine species have been catalogued from data provided by volunteers, including many that are endangered, and some that are believed to be new to science. The information is used to implement conservation plans across the region, and shared with government agencies to assist national conservation activities and fisheries policy. Volunteers also take part in community activities such as beach clean ups, and teaching English lessons to local children. Most of the volunteers find themselves well out of their comfort zone in this remote village without modern amenities. “The whole experience was lifechanging ” said Victoria, 24, from the UK. “I did things I never knew I was capable of.” Blue Ventures also offers scholarships to Malagasy nationals, enabling them to join the expeditions and many have gained employment as a result. Since 2003, Blue Ventures has successfully combined these eco-tourism packages with an award-winning conservation programme. The revenue from the expeditions, together with grants and awards, goes to fund conservation and community work. It began with a pilot project to create temporary seasonal ‘no take zones’ for octopus. These closures allowed the octopus to grow in size and number, resulting in greater yields when the restrictions were lifted. Catches of octopus in some areas increased 13 times, while the weight of octopus caught increased 25 times, so increasing incomes for the fishers. The closures were so successful that the Malagasy government decided to implement similar restrictions across the country. Working with Madagascar’s Institute of Marine Sciences and the Wildlife Conservation Society, the project includes 21 villages in a partnership known as ‘Velondriake’, meaning ‘to live with the sea’. Since 2006, Velondriake has been

working to develop a network of communityrun marine and coastal protected areas. This network spans 800 km and covers coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds and baobab forests. In 2009, Velondriake celebrated new local legislation making it easier for the community to enforce the reserves, and to punish those using destructive fishing practices. The success of Velondriake rests on the fact that Blue Ventures and its partners work directly with the community. Members receive training in managing and monitoring. While this came from Blue Ventures’ staff at first, increasingly, key individuals from the community have become educators themselves. Meetings and workshops are held regularly from which the boundaries of the reserves are determined. In September 2009, permanent no-take zones were announced. Velondriake is now the largest community-managed protected area in the Indian Ocean and has become the blueprint for similar projects in the region. Blue Ventures community work isn’t limited to the marine protected area. Alternative livelihood projects are developed to reduce fishing pressure. As a result, sea cucumber and algae farming projects have evolved, as well as eco-guide training and a flourishing women’s association. Recognising the impact of population growth on the environment led Blue Ventures to launch a family planning initiative in partnership with government health officials. This provides access to family planning and reproductive health services to Andavadoaka and 26 other villages. It is hoped that these measures will reduce pressure on the marine environment and ensure the survival of the Vezo people’s way of life. Find out more at www.blueventures.org

“I’ve seen big changes” Roger Samba, a community outreach officer and trainer, is president of the Velondriake community. Aged 34 and married with two children, he was formerly a school teacher and president of the village of Andavadoaka. “I was born in Lamboara, another village but moved to Andavadoaka to become a teacher. A few years ago, I became friends with the first expedition manager of Blue Ventures [which] stimulated my interest in conservation and education. My interest led me to try and get the village community to work with Blue Ventures on conserving our natural environment. Since Blue Ventures has been in Andavadoaka, I’ve seen big changes in the environmental knowledge of people. I’ve also had an opportunity to interact with the wider Malagasy community as well as people from all around the world. I really do believe there’s been a widespread change in the mentality and understanding of the local community. People are now more educated and understand how important it is to conserve our natural resources for the future. I would like my village to become a town that works in harmony with the environment to safeguard our natural resources for everyone.”

“It’s definitely improved my life” Clarice is a member of the village women’s association, working with Blue Ventures to develop livelihoods for local women. She is 33, unmarried, and has three children aged 14, seven and two. “Having Blue Ventures in the village means that there’s the possibility of employment and there are volunteers and tourists around to sell my embroidery to. It’s a really important income for me because I don’t fish and am not married. Each expedition, the women’s association cooks for the volunteers and this is another way for us to earn money. It’s definitely improved my life. My hut is very small and in great need of repair. Eventually I hope to earn enough money to build a new one.”

Suzanne, 70, has seen octopus stocks decline and recover.

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n a bustling trading centre, an argument breaks out. Loud voices can be heard in the market place as a smartly dressed woman storms into frame, followed, hot on her heels, by a man who is visibly distressed. “Why are you following me?“ she shouts, “I don’t want anything to do with you!” “Nancy, I think you are over sensationalising this,“ the man pleads. What happens next? The audience can’t wait to find out… Nancy is one of a host of characters in the Eastenders-like TV soap opera Makutano Junction, written and produced in Kenya. More than 7 million viewers in the country are caught up in its tales of people who live, do business, fall in love, get sick or get drunk in the fictional town of Makutano. But perhaps more surprisingly, viewers also include school students in the UK watching the soap in the classroom, where it is being used as an awareness raising teaching aid. And it has got the children hooked. Makutano Junction is an ‘edutainment’ soap series. This compelling drama – with funding from the Department for International Development – delivers key development messages like how to prevent malaria, or how to live with HIV and AIDS, messages developed with experts and woven into story lines. The soap itself has attracted impressive accolades: winner of Kenya Film Awards for best directed TV Series; second most popular TV drama series in Kenya and most popular TV drama series in Uganda, to name a few. Yet the messages written into the scripts have captured a relevance not originally envisaged by the programme’s maker, Mediae Company, such as UK students. It’s something Mediae’s directors, Nairobi-based David Campbell and UK-based Kate Lloyd Morgan, have been working on with training consultants Just Ideas. Now in its third year, the initiative has taken the drama series into 125 secondary schools across England by teaming up with development education centres, which provide teacher training and advice. It started with a pilot scheme in the west of England and is being

TELEVISION IN KENYA

soap surprise A Kenyan-made TV soap opera is gaining new fans and challenging old ideas in UK schools, discovers Georgina Smith. DEVELOPMENTS 48 | 33

extended to schools in Yorkshire, Humberside and the north-east. The initiative provides funding for teachers to attend induction days, where they are familiarised with programme and supporting material – including a website, and explore how to use them in lessons. With cultural awareness an increasingly important part of UK education, a global dimension is now compulsory in the secondary curriculum, and teachers need to find ways of including it. After watching clips from the programme, children are encouraged to discuss – or develop role plays – based on issues raised in packaged themes such as Exploring Kenya; Living with HIV and AIDS; the Millennium Development Goals and Me. “It’s fascinating when you go into these schools,” says Lloyd Morgan. “I find it really shocking what kids’ perceptions are – it’s quite an eye opener. Their perceptions are that Africa is very hot, very dirty and very poor, with lots of wild animals and mud huts. Then we show Makutano. In it we have got characters who are dressed smartly, paint their nails and wear groovy jeans.” So what do British children make of Kenya’s skyscrapers, people who wear fashionable jeans, own a business and use mobile phones? At first, they can be surprised. Lloyd Morgan recalls, “One boy said, ‘But Miss, she has a mobile phone. They don’t have mobile phones in Africa.’” Challenging stereotypes is a large part of what the initiative is about. A mid-term evaluation of questionnaire results from students before and after using Makutano materials in 12 schools revealed that, on watching the programme, negative perceptions of starvation and poverty, malnutrition, wilderness and suffering changed to more positive images that better reflect the reality of farming and city life. For example, the percentage of students who thought “starvation” was the biggest cause

Junction box • Television ownership in Kenya stands at 77% of all households. • The programme’s Kenyan audience consists mostly of rural viewers and its impact is greatest for those from lower income groups. • In a recent survey 40% said that Makutano had influenced their attitudes and behaviour, particularly episodes dealing with health issues, voting procedures and violence against women. • The Makutano SMS service receives around 30,000 texts a year, providing further information about topics covered by the programme. • Makutano’s low production costs make it a relatively inexpensive way of raising awareness across a vast viewing public.

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DEVELOPMENTS 47 34

MEDIA TRAINING IN KENYA & TANZANIA

Makutano calls for peace In early 2008, after the results of Kenya’s bitterly contested presidential elections were announced and violence broke out across the country, a 90-second message appeared on Kenyan television. Featuring some of the best-known faces from Makutano Junction, A Message of Peace for all Kenyans ended with the actors talking straight to the camera. “We are all brothers and sisters under the same flag,” they said. “We need our leaders to meet and come to an agreement.” It was a plea that was answered, eventually, in the form of a power-sharing arrangement between the main political rivals. Makutano Junction had, at a time of national crisis, stuck to its mission of spreading the message of development clearly, and with impact. Television had lent its powerful voice to the call for peace, reaching a potential audience of millions.

of death in Africa dropped dramatically from 28% to 8% following Makutano activities, while there was a respective increase of 8% and 6% in the use of words “happiness” and “beauty” to describe Africa. Scriptwriter Damaris Irungu said: “I believe Makutano Junction is a very powerful tool in changing the perceptions of people abroad about Kenya and developing countries. There is more than issues of just poverty. In Makutano Junction we tackle a wide range of issues… empowering women, access to a good education, financial empowerment.” Lloyd Morgan notes: “There are subliminal things going on: seeing that an awful lot of people don’t live in mud huts; showing that these are people and they have love and tragedy, high points and low points, and money troubles like everyone does. It’s looking at the commonalities as well as the differences.” One year 8 student at St James’ Secondary School in Exeter commented in the questionnaire: “We learned about how they cope with different situations, some of them the same situations we have to cope with.” Liz Roodhouse, coordinator for Craven Development Education Centre is an enthusiast for the project. “I think it engages them right from the word go,” she says. “They can identify with the characters.” Pupils admitted enjoying their Makutano lessons – some even downloading the theme tune onto their mobile phones. Teachers have also said that a soap is a medium children are already familiar with, and that they find it relevant to a range of subjects, from English, media studies and geography to less evident applications in, say, religious studies. Kelvin Ravenscroft, head of religious studies at Bradford Grammar School, says the programme is useful for exploring issues around which the spiritual dimension

can be introduced: poverty; challenges and opportunities in life; HIV; environmental issues; the Millennium Development Goals. “It’s like a key that opens the door,” he says. “They don’t feel that they are being lectured.” In learning to identify with the Makutano characters through role-play, for example, students have been able to examine community problems. And, in deciding what would benefit the whole community, they seem to have become more aware of their own ability to change things. The questionnaire discovered that a remarkable 16% of those who had used Makutano materials felt they were more able do something to make a difference and tackle poverty. Beyond the current initiative to roll out Makutano and supporting educational materials, Mediae Company and Just Ideas are seeking support to take the resources into every secondary school in England. Meanwhile, there are ambitions to broadcast the series throughout the whole of English-speaking Africa, where it is already available on satellite TV. Scriptwriter Philip Luswata-Kafuluma shares his trade secret: “In any story, whatever its nature, there’s inevitably something to learn. While the messages in the series are frequently pre-determined, they are immersed in real life experience stories for authenticity and to ensure a ‘not in your face’ lesson. This is what guarantees its continued popularity.” Want to find out what happened to Nancy and her man friend? Well, why not get hold of the first series and find out for yourself. You may even find yourself downloading the theme tune onto your mobile phone. Find out more at www.research4development.info www.makutano.org

KENYA POPULATION 37 million AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY 53 years AVERAGE PER CAPITA INCOME $580 While 46% of the population live below the food poverty line, more children are now in school, HIV/AIDS is falling and there is greater access to clean water and sanitation. DFID provided £52.1m in aid in 2007/8 with a focus on education, governance and health and HIV and AIDS.

Find out more at www.dfid.gov.uk/kenya

The soap is changing UK schoolchildren’s perceptions about Africa.

DEVELOPMENTS 48 | 35

36 | DEVELOPMENTS 48

MEDIA TRAINING IN KENYA & TANZANIA

RELIGION AND REDUCING POVERTY

a question of faith Can faith play a positive role in helping people escape from poverty? Tony Blair believes it can.

n 2005, the UK government played a major role in putting development on the agenda of the G8 for the Gleneagles Summit. For the first time at such a summit the topics were climate change and aid. And for the first time, we established a mechanism – the G8+5 – which brought together the main emerging as well as developed nations of the world. One of the most critical aspects however, was the role played by people of faith. To place aid on a G8 agenda was not easy. There was significant resistance to it. The commitments we were asking, were also significant. And there is no doubt about the contribution the faith communities made to securing those commitments. Essentially civic society across the developed world was mobilised; and within that society, the religious believers of all persuasions participated. Week after week they raised consciousness, put pressure on political representatives and used their huge networks to push the issue’s salience and profile. It was a massive support, motivator and galvaniser. It also touched upon a broader truth. Faith matters – whether you are religious or not. It matters because it inspires people to act. That can be for ill, as we see when extremism captures parts of the faith community. Or it can be for good, as with Make Poverty History. But to ignore the role of faith is to be blind to a dimension of the world that plays a part in the thinking and attitudes of billions of people. Yet it also clearly presents dilemmas and can cause feelings of mistrust and opposition. This can be because of positions of some religious people on issues such as gender equality (especially in relation to issues like maternal mortality), sexuality or contraception. It can also be because some think that people of faith have always some ulterior motive to their ‘good work’, through proselytising. It is also the case that religious organisations cannot and should not substitute for the central role of government. So we have to be realistic about the relationship between faith and development.

When I began the Tony Blair Faith Foundation I did not want it to focus on religious doctrine, or on trying to narrow theological differences between faiths. I wanted it to focus on action – on, specifically, what faith could do in action. Therefore, we have university and schools programmes that link up students across the world, in order to provide real life interaction between people of different faiths – not just learning about each other but learning with each other. Interfaith through experience. And we began a programme to bring people together, of different faiths, in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We have started with the anti-malaria campaign. We have trained a group of young people – from across the faith divide – who will work together to mobilise their faith communities here in the west and link them with faith communities in affected malaria regions. Many of these regions are remote. There are few or no health clinics or hospitals. But every village or town has a church or a mosque. These can be the distribution centres for bed nets and medicines, and from where the health workers can give advice. Obviously what we do, is only a small part of a much bigger picture. But the point is that the faith community here is making a contribution that – in the practical, living circumstances that apply in many of these countries – only the faith community can make. Of course they do so in collaboration with many non-religious agencies, but their work, obviously their faith, makes a difference, sometimes the difference. Interfaith groupings are attractive and desirable in a number of ways. Governments in Africa find it easier to deal with a one-stopshop. A good example is the Nigerian Interfaith Action Association (NIFAA), made up of religious leaders, who committed to integrating their communities into national health plans. When faith communities work together for justice and human development there is a double pay off – things get done and respect and understanding between them grows. In Mozambique there are excellent programmes

When faith communities work together for justice and human development, respect between them grows.

training leaders from different faiths together so that they can play their role in health education amongst their communities. Sierra Leone, where we have one of our governance teams, has inherited an impressive interfaith organisation from the times of the civil war. This puts them in a position to take up interfaith training for health education immediately if it were offered. Rwanda has a similar possibility, and in many countries, existing HIV and AIDs networks are a great asset. The potential here is very great. Faith communities – given training, a small amount of funding, and mobile phones – could provide government with vital and missing data about the incidence of disease and the effectiveness of delivery of health care in parts of their populations where government has negligible access. Religious leaders are given a high level of trust. Faith communities retain a high degree of social capital. A local Sufi zawiya is not just a prayer centre but a job centre. You sing and pray. You make the right contacts and meet the right people. There is also a huge importance in small symbolic acts. Like the personal donation from the local Bishop of Jubbah to Islamic Relief who were working in the predominantly Christian southern Sudan. The £200,000 collected by World Jewish Relief after the 2005 Pakistan

earthquake and given to an Islamic organisation to help the victims. The funds given by Islamic Relief to CAFOD for projects in El Salvador. Such gestures build up trust and understanding both at the grassroots and internationally. In this way, faith can benefit action for development; but action on development can also benefit faith. It is true the faith community has issues it must confront and overcome. It is true also that, in recent years, most mainstream religious faiths have been prey to the influence of extremist groups. But this, in a sense, is the dark side of strong belief. People who hold deep convictions about life and its purpose can be prone to holding those views to excess. That danger is inherent in faith. But faith also, precisely because it is about profound belief, also has resilience, commitment, dedication, and courage to go where others fear. Yes, some of the worst actions of recent times have been committed by people of faith. But also some of the best. This article is based on a speech given by Tony Blair at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) in London on 7 September 2009. Find out more www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org

two challenges There are two health care challenges where faith groups could make a particular difference, says Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander. One is the fight against Aids, and the other is preventing the deaths of mothers in pregnancy and childbirth. Making progress in development does not only require the delivery of more resources, but also the need to change attitudes that may have persisted for generations. Sometimes this means that religious leaders must speak up.

HIV and AIDS Preventing the spread of the deadly HIV virus not only demands means of protection and treatment, but also tackling the stigma that stops people from getting tested, seeking treatment and admitting their positive status to others. One source of this stigma is the mistaken belief that being HIV positive is somehow a ‘punishment from God’. So faith leaders have a responsibility to move communities from shamed silence, to dialogue, to action. That is why DFID has supported faith leaders who are HIV positive to share their

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status publicly and tell their own stories of leading productive lives. When Zimbabwean pastor Maxwell Kapachawo became ill he didn’t suspect HIV at first – but three years later his health deteriorated so much that he was ordered to leave his ministry. He said then that he wanted to die quickly, before his community found out. But a fellow pastor helped Maxwell to change his mind – and convince him that God would not judge him for his HIV status. Inspired by a DFID-supported workshop for HIV-positive religious leaders, Maxwell spoke to his congregation about his own situation. Three weeks later, threequarters of his congregation testified that they had gone for an HIV test. “They were happy to know their status” said Maxwell, “because they had seen life in me.”

Maternal mortality For too many women across the developing world, what should be the happiest day of their lives is in fact the last day of their lives. Because every minute, a woman dies from complications in pregnancy or childbirth.

We have the technology to save women, yet in too many places it is the political will that is lacking. As Radhika Coomeraswamy, former UN special rapporteur on violence against women, has said, “the biggest problem… we find is that people are using culture and religion to deny women’s rights.” That has been the case in northern Nigeria, where many women need permission from husbands to attend local medical facilities. The tragic result is that many women give birth unattended, at home, and around one in ten women die either in pregnancy or childbirth. So DFID has worked with local religious leaders to tell them the benefits of a hospital or assisted delivery – they in turn have passed the message on to the community. In under a year, the number of women attending hospital for emergency obstetric care has risen by 50%. One woman, Selatu Saji, was rushed to hospital in the late stages of labour. She needed a blood transfusion because of complications, and as she said herself: had she been at home, she wouldn’t have survived.

Now, thousands of women across Selatu’s home state of Jigawa will now have their lives saved thanks to the example set by local faith leaders. This article is an extract from a speech given by Douglas Alexander at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) on 20 October 2009.

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