The international community adopted the Millennium Development Goals in September 2000, and since then it has made a lot of effort to increase the effectiveness of aid. At the same time, conflicts and disputes that draw international attention frequen...
The international community adopted the Millennium Development Goals in September 2000, and since then it has made a lot of effort to increase the effectiveness of aid. At the same time, conflicts and disputes that draw international attention frequently occur. The international aid community has spent an enormous amount implementing reconstruction programmes and projects as a part of the peace building process.
The international aid community has been disbursing a lot of funds for reconstruction programmes reflecting its development aid experiences of the past 50 years, by supporting infrastructure reconstruction, establishing a national development plan, complementing the aid recipient system, and holding conferences to align the donors' aid to the needs of the countries in conflict. However, worsened security situations have postponed reconstruction progress and increased project costs which in turn hinder the donors' ability to implement efficient and effective reconstruction projects. This is where the question of this study begins. What is the difference between the development cooperation and reconstruction assistance? Have reconstruction projects in which the international community has invested heavily progressed properly? And do they produce effective results? This thesis tries to answer these questions.
With these issues in mind, I analyzed the theoretical paradigm of development cooperation that began as the Unites States provided reconstruction support to Europe after World War II, In addition, I studied the conceptual difference between development cooperation and reconstruction assistance based on the analysis of the systematic background of both the international aid community and Korea, while considering the efforts of the international community such as the Millennium Development Goals and the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness. In this thesis, reconstruction aid fits into the development cooperation category, but it can be more specifically defined as programmes that are oriented to peace building by restoring socio-economic infrastructure and improving public welfare.
In order to accomplish the objectives of this study, I analyzed the concept of increasing the effectiveness of reconstruction assistance, its prerequisite conditions and factors that influence effectiveness. In this study, I set increases in national income, rise in industrial productivity, improvement in financial soundness, and advancement of industrial infrastructure (e.g. roads) as measuring variables since only aid pledges were agreed prior to undertaking the reconstruction projects, but specific objectives were not established at pledge donor conferences. The prerequisite conditions for increasing the effectiveness: the validity of reconstruction needs assessment, the will of the international aid community to support reconstruction, and the absorbing capacity of the countries in conflict were set as the three individual variables. Also, the security situations that could influence reconstruction assistance and the efficiency of the project were set as controlled variables and are analyzed as such.
With the designed analytical framework, I conducted an analysis of surveys of the participants to the training programs from Iraq and Afghanistan, the direct beneficiaries or actors of reconstruction assistance. By empirically analyzing the survey results from 123 Iraqis and 61 Afghans, the increase in effectiveness of the reconstruction aid is influenced, in descending order, by the absorbing capacity of the recipient, the validity of reconstruction needs assesment, and the willingness of the international aid community. The results present that even though the international aid community tries to provide aid support, if the recipient is not actively engaged in the design and implementation of initiatives and the reconstruction projects of the international aid community are not aligned with the recipient country's reconstruction plan, then it is unlikely that the reconstruction aid would have the expected positive effect. Another conclusion of this study is that an efficiently executed reconstruction project causes a rise in effectiveness. Based on these results, one can conclude that even with worsened security situations, donors should find ways to raise the efficiency of projects. To support the conclusion, bibliographical research was conducted on Iraq and Afghanistan, two countries that are the targets of the reconstruction support of the international community as well as case studies on the two countries based on the author's reconstruction aid experiences in those countries.
In Iraq, in order to break away from the former administration, a dismissal of trained police and the army took place which caused disintegrated capacity of maintaining public security throughout the peace?]building process in post-war Iraq. Dissemination of democratic values, which are not familiar to Islamic societies, and support for establishment of democratic government also brought about strong antagonism against the United States from other Islamic countries, and despite the dispatch many troops, their strategy failed to suppress terrorist groups, which are represented by al Qaeda.
As a result, public order deteriorated which led the Iraqi government to its failure to exercise legitimate authority and also cause the displacement of approximately 6 million people. In executing reconstruction programs, a needs assessment was conducted to predict the estimated budget of reconstruction programmes led by international organizations such as UNDP and the World Bank. Through the Donor Conference in Madrid, donors committed 33 billion US dollars for reconstruction, and implemented the program, but the investment from the international community has been slow, except for the major donor countries, such as US, Japan, Korea, etc. According to the Iraqi government?fs statistics, the actual disbursement from the international community was as much as 9.5 billion US dollars, and even considering the security costs, which are included in this amount, the effect from the assistance has been disappointing.
This research also draws the conclusion that even if the international community?fs aid for the reconstruction of Iraq played a significant role in bringing back the oil production and national income up to the level prior to the war, the contribution of aid in boosting the Iraqi economy is confined to less than 20%. That is because the economic growth of Iraq was achieved mostly by the increase of the world oil price rather than through reconstruction aid.
In Afghanistan?fs case, the peace?]building process relied heavily on security maintenance and establishment of a democratic government by troops from the UN and NATO, rather than the United States?f active intervention. As those strategies have failed, however, in practicing policies of repatriation of the refugees, social integration, disarmament of junta and civil military, eradication of opium cultivation, and so on, the Taliban has regained some strength, deteriorating the security situation in Afghanistan.
Implementation of reconstruction programs in Afghanistan has been slow because of the government?fs fragile capacity to administrate, deepened corruption, lack of local human resources for participation in development cooperation programs, international aid organization staffs?f tendency to evade chances to work in Afghanistan, and antagonism from the Afghanistan people towards international activists, especially NGOs.
However, since Afghanistan is a country with a fragile financial foundation, it faces immediate difficulties without financial support from the international community, so 14.8 billion US dollars was disbursed by 2007, following promises to donate 23.2 billion US dollars. Even considering the low level of its national income, we can assume that the reconstruction programs certainly contributed to more than double its income compared to that of prior to the war, as well as contributing to the improvement of infrastructure.
Implementing the reconstruction program in the conflict and post?]conflict stage while securing effectiveness of the program at the same time is difficult. Continuance of violent conflict limits development activists?f efforts to increase effectiveness, weakens the partners?f administrative capabilities, and causes local people to believe that donor activities have a connection to corruption and are only for their national interest. Conflict also increases security costs for aid delivery causing further issues in efficiency and effectiveness.
I conducted research to find methods to increase aid effectiveness in these environments. The conclusion of this research is that the will to achieve reform and development of recipient countries in conflict is much more important than that of the international community. Therefore, aid for those countries should be more focused on the capacity building. This requires training of human resources, support for institution building and basic infrastructure, along with endeavors to develop fields in which development cooperation can contribute to the stabilizing security.
Development cooperation programs in conflict affected regions should be customized to help peace building. Aid agencies need to implement programs which have demonstrable impacts which can offer concrete improvements to local people's lives. By demonstrating to the local people in conflict areas that the international community supports them to help them escape out from the difficulties of conflict, there is a better chance of establishing democratic and capable government systems.
Korean experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan involve supporting peace building by dispatching troops and conducting reconstruction programs. Its efforts are appreciated by recipient countries and the international community despite the relatively small budget. Reflecting on Korea's past experiences, it is possible to determine which areas to approach when implementing similar reconstruction programs in the future.
First, it is critical to respect the sovereignty of a nation in conflict and to inspire the nation to rebuild itself. However, the international aid community also puts a great emphasis on capacity building to develop good policies and implement them. In order to do so, we need to provide government officials with intensive training to build their capacity in the short-term and for the longer term bring up the next generation of leaders through study abroad programs.
Second, a state in conflict should take the lead in its reconstruction process, including the rebuilding of its socio-economic infrastructure. With respect to this, our role is to support the planning process and capacity building so that it can prepare the rebuiliding programmes by themselves, in tandem with providing emergency aid, such as food and other humanitarian aid.
Third, it costs a lot more to conduct an aid project when public security is unstable. Therefore, to avoid this we need to find ways to lower the costs of implementing of projects. Further, it is important to implement a project only after the situation is stable enough to dispatch experts to the field.
Fourth, since projects in states experiencing conflict are a part of the peace-building process through international cooperation, there is a need for harmonization among donors. Therefore, we should participate in aid-donor meetings and aid-coordinating committees in the field. In so doing, we can identify the needs of the country, and thus enable each donor to promote a project based on its comparative competencies.
Fifth, decisions on which projects need to be funded should be based on understanding and careful analysis of; how helpful a project is for peace-building; how effectively it will contribute to achieving the MDGs; and what types of risk the project bears.
Sixth, it is important to apply international standards to aid-project management to as great an extent as possible, even where there is little public security and a lack of local staff or information. Further, it is necessary to guarantee quality management and monitoring.
Seventh, military forces or diplomats are usually dispatched to a country in conflict to support the reconstruction process. Aid workers should be able to use their expertise and harmonize with them to successfully implement projects.
In the 2000s, there has been a significant emphasis on enhancing aid effectiveness. In 2005, the five principles of the Paris Declaration stated the importance of ownership, alignment, and harmonization with result-based management and mutual-responsibility taking second priority in terms of importance. Reconstruction projects can be more effective if they include proper consideration of the former three principles. Capacity-building is the most important element in enhancing aid effectiveness. Being aware of this, the Korean Government invited 2,600 Iraqi government officials for training courses in various areas. The training is primarily aimed at sharing Korean development experiences. The same principle has applied to Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, apart from training program, Korea has built a training center for the government officials. This is to build capacity in the short-term and provide inspiration for development and potential impacts for the future. This demonstrates a difference in approach between Korea and other donor countries. Specifically, for various reasons, other donor countries have been reluctant to invite government officials from countries in conflict for training. Further, the Korean approach as mentioned above can provide insight to other donors how to promote long-term aid effectiveness.