Guidance on Governance and Post-Conflict Economic Growth
In its effort to assist partner countries in developing a growth-friendly environment of policies, regulations, institutions, and overall economic governance, USAID develops guidance on economic growth and governance in developing and post-conflict countries.
Guide to Economic Growth in Post-Conflict Countries
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USAID-assisted farmers in Rwanda produce high quality coffee for export through the Bringto Cooperative, a project designed to improve livelihoods following the destabilizing conflict and genocide of a decade earlier. (USAID/Rwanda) |
Forty percent of countries emerging from conflict return to conflict within a decade. Post-conflict countries can reduce the risk of return to conflict by initiating effective economic growth programs soon after conflict, which may in turn improve well-being, contribute to peace and stability, and prevent renewed violence. Decision-makers faced with the chaotic conditions and competing priorities of a conflict-affected country will benefit from lessons learned and concrete recommendations presented in USAID’s “Guide to Economic Growth in Post-Conflict Countries”.
The Guide describes how economic assistance priorities often differ in conflict-affected countries and may affect the priority and sequencing of donor-driven economic growth interventions. The Guide also discusses lessons learned from post-conflict programs and provides recommendations for seven specific areas:
- macroeconomic foundations
- employment generation
- infrastructure
- private-sector development
- agriculture
- banking and finance
- and international trade policy and border management
Economic Governance
USAID programs seek to help developing and conflict-affected countries improve their economic governance. Burdensome and corruption-prone systems of regulation, revenue collection, public expenditure, trade barriers, restrictions on domestic competition, and other instances of poor economic governance hamper growth. By supporting systemic and catalytic changes in partner countries, USAID can help secure a better future for much larger numbers of people than can be reach through village-by-village or enterprise-by-enterprise assistance activities..
To illustrate successful past approaches to improving economic governance, USAID developed case studies in the report “Anti-Corruption Interventions in Economic Growth: Lessons Learned for the Design of Future Projects”. Other USAID economic governance case studies include an assessment of the Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP) in Liberia, which has as a goal to improve governance, enhance transparency and accountability, and lay a foundation for sustainable peace; a study of the integrity of rural electrification in Bangladesh, a report on customs reforms in the Philippines, and a report on reducing administrative corruption in Ukraine.
Additional supporting documents
“Building Fiscal Infrastructure in Post-conflict Societies” presents case studies on building revenue and budget management systems based on USAID experience in Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Kosovo, and Liberia.
“Fiscal Decentralization in Post-conflict Countries” examines how decentralization can help to bring peace in ethnically fragmented countries such as Bosnia, Sri Lanka, and Sudan.
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