Aswan Forum 2019: UNDP’s experts discuss interlinkages between sustaining peace and development in Africa

December 12, 2019

Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development taking place on 11 and 12 December 2019

Aswan, December 12, 2019 - The southern Egyptian city of Aswan witnessed the launch of the first edition of Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development, taking place on 11 and 12 December 2019. The forum provides a high-level and multi-stakeholder platform discussion on the interlinkages between sustaining peace and sustainable development in Africa.

The Aswan Forum brings together heads of states and governments, leaders and high-level officials from national governments, international and regional organizations, working across the spectrum from peace and security, to development, and humanitarian issues, together with financial institutions, the private sector, and civil society, as well as practitioners and prominent experts for a discussion on the threats and challenges in Africa, as well as the opportunities ahead.

In the second session of the forum “Silencing the Guns in Africa: Owning the Prevention Agenda”, Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, UN Assistant Secretary General, Special Advisor to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) spoke about the challenges that encounter financing development and mentioned that “Conflicts whether they are of old or of new typologies, involving non-sate actors, are often born close to and across national borders. As part of prevention, African states need to invest more on their common borders and serve each other as good neighbors”.  

UNDP recognizes the importance of strong crisis prevention mechanisms to maintain nations on resilient development pathways. Its Strategic Plan 2018-2022 adopted as a pillar to “build resilience to crises and shocks”. One of the 6 signature solutions of UNDP Strategic Plan is to “Enhance national prevention and recovery capacities for resilient societies” which will focus on the issues of conflict prevention, peacebuilding and mitigation and crisis response, to help countries avoid crises and return quickly to stable development after crises occur. “Analyses indicate that peace and resilience indicators are highly correlated. Yet, some African states lack a culture of resilience and the topic does not receive enough attention”, Dieye highlighted.

The forum also discussed key practical aspects such as the financing of post-conflict economic recovery. “Although this is still not sufficient, we see positive developments in bridging the financing gap in situations of fragility, including the presence of emerging donors like the Islamic Development Bank and the use of new instruments such as Social Impact bonds”, Dieye noted.

Acting as a strategic partner of Aswan Forum, UNDP supported the forum and build on its global experience and vast expertise on sustainable development, peace and security in Africa. “UNDP Egypt has a long partnership with the International Cairo Center for Dispute Resolution, Peace Keeping and Peace building. The spotless organization, the quality of the debates demonstrate the important role Egypt plays in Africa”, said Randa Aboul-Hosn, Resident Representative of UNDP Egypt.

The Aswan forum was supported by the Government of Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, UNDP, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Banque Misr, EFG Hermes and the African Development Bank, among others.

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For more information and media interviews, contact:

Fatma Elzahraa Yassin, Communications Analyst, UNDP Egypt, fatma.yassin@undp.org

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About Aswan Forum: As the Chairman of the African Union 2019, Egypt is taking the initiative to launch this communication platform. The Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development will provide the first of its kind platform to address these inseparable issues. The Forum, to be held in December of every year, will bring together heads of states and governments, leaders from national governments, regional and international organizations and financial institutions, the private sector, and civil society, as well as visionaries, scholars, and prominent experts for a context-specific, action-oriented, and forward looking discussion on the threats and challenges, as well as the opportunities in Africa, ahead. . The Inaugural Meeting of the Forum focuses on the Africa-specific operationalization of the interlinkages between sustainable development and sustaining peace in practice.

About UNDP: UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in some 177 countries and territories, we offer a global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.