THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
Security policy and development policy are complementar
Documentation
Development policy in the strengthening the civil co by Dirk Niebel, Minister of Economic Cooperation and Developmen
German development funding for Afghanistan in 2011 The German government had divided the 2011 development funds for Afghanistan into two instalments with the aim to create additional incentives for the government in Kabul to meet the commitments it had entered into during the international Afghanistan conferences in London (January 2010) and Kabul (July 2010). This means tangible progress to be made by the Afghan government in central areas of reform, especially with regard to governance and anti-corruption efforts. In response to visible reform efforts on the part of the government in Kabul, Development Minister Niebel had released the first instalment of up to € 133 million (which includes 3 million euros in reprogrammed funds from earlier commitments) in June. On 2 October 2011, Gudrun Kopp, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, arrived in Afghanistan. During her political talks with Dr. Mustafa Mastoor, Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Finance, she committed on behalf of Development Minister Dirk Niebel another € 110 million to the Afghan government for projects and programmes under Afghan-German development cooperation this year. This means that a total of up to 240 million euros is available for development programmes and projects in Afghanistan in 2011. In addition, up to € 10 million is available for financial support for projects operated by German non-governmental organisations in Afghanistan. The second instalment was released after the government had demonstrated that further actions had been undertaken. The Strategy for German development policy “Minds for Change – Chancen schaffen” is available at: http://tinyurl.com/6k4ogs5
My aim is to enhance the effectiveness of German development cooperation. As part of that we have just completed the biggest reform of German development policy, merging three German implementing organisations into one. This will make our development policy more coherent and more effective. Another way of enhancing effectiveness is through close coordination with other international development players. That way we can avoid unnecessary duplication and each of the players can concentrate on their strengths.
Meshing of Development and Security Policy The majority of all violent conflicts in the world are played out in developing countries. More than half of the countries with which we have cooperation programmes are potential crisis countries. That is why, in order to do our work more effectively, we also need closer meshing of development policy and security policy. These two fields of policy need to overcome their qualms and work together in the way global challenges demand. Complex conflict situations such as can be seen in the Balkans, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Sudan or in Afghanistan cannot be resolved by means of development policy or diplomacy or military intervention alone. In order to prevent or manage conflicts, or to support and stabilise peace processes, more than one field of policy is needed.
The comprehensive approach Development policy makes an important contribution to security. It is also equally true to say that development is not possible without a minimum level of security. The only way we can deal with the present challenges posed by fragile, conflictridden countries is if we pursue a coordinated, coherent line. That is the core of the comprehensive approach and that is why achieving peace and security is an inter-ministerial crosscutting task with a clear division of labour: the objective of security policy is to avoid and avert dangers; development policy is about opening up opportunities.
Minister Dirk Niebel visiting a bakery in Moputu, on his travel through Mozambique in 2011 Photo:BMZ/Doris Lowack
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Security policy and development policy are complementary to one another, with a fair division of labour between equal partners. A purely military strategy that takes no account of deeper-lying structural problems is not sustainable and is thus just as doomed to failure as an understanding of development policy that is too narrow and that basically ignores security issues.