The outbreak of COVID-19 has not only exposed the vulnerabilities of many countries, but has in some cases exacerbated existing fault lines yielding conflictual outcomes that might take many years to address. While life is far from returning to normal, reasonable advances in the management of the pandemic, including the deployment of vaccines, appears to have instigated considerations of a post-COVID-19 World Order.
For conflict-affected areas, #COVID19 interventions can offer a silver lining for sustaining Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development @pipattuquayefio #AUPCRD #StrongerPeacebuilding
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For conflict-affected areas, COVID-19 interventions can offer a silver lining for sustaining Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD). One of the likely fallouts from COVID-19-related interventions is the deepening of the social contract that is often vexed in conflict affected areas. This can be achieved through an improvement in the perception of government accountability. As established through data, COVID-19 has manifested in the destruction of several sectors across the world. This has affected the provision of public goods and services in many areas. The health sector, for instance, is one of the hardest hit areas. At the peak of the pandemic in 2020, health systems collapsed under the pressure from infections and mortality or signalled imminent breakdown should infection rates continue to soar. The logic has been fairly straightforward – with the speed and pervasiveness of infection comes a high demand for health services. With time there is a shortfall of services churned from national health systems not just for COVID-19 patients but other citizens desirous of accessing health services for other ailments deepening mortality rates for COVID-19 patients as well as non-COVID-19 patients.
Other sectors responsible for churning out direct public goods and services have been equally affected. Consequently, COVID-19-related interventions must prioritise the restoration of such provisions. In conflict affected areas, agency of the public sector in this regard should be without question. Governments, must therefore lead the process. The implication of this on sustaining PCRD is not far-fetched. Among a population that is familiar with government unaccountability and the reneging of responsibilities under the social contract, Governments or political leadership leading processes towards restoring public goods and services as a way of courting public perception of governmental accountability offers a meaningful approach to reinvigorating the social contract between those who govern and the governed. From a sustained PCRD perspective, this supports the rebuilding of legitimate state authority and the enhancement of national ownership of the post-conflict process.
Relatedly, targeting the restoration of destroyed livelihoods as part of COVID-19-related interventions can re-establish the linkages between livelihoods and reduction of vulnerability to renewed conflict. Post-conflict peacebuilding that translate into the generation of livelihoods have pointed to a positive relationship between the creation of economic opportunities for livelihood and a reduction in the propensity for renewed violence. Deductively, any meaningful COVID-19-related strategy having at its core the protection and empowerment of individuals and communities from a livelihood perspective, will likely have spillovers on broader PCRD processes in conflict-affected areas.
Opportunities for sustaining PCRD in conflict-affected areas through COVID-19-related interventions also lie in institutional renewal. That violent conflicts result in the destruction of institutions is unquestionable. Indeed all around the continent, one of the preeminent effect of violent conflicts is the destruction of socio-economic and political institutions. In some cases, the destruction of institutions is preceded by the undermining of these institutions, particularly those that directly represent the legitimacy of the state such as the law enforcement. In post-conflict contexts, the lack of faith in state institutions can be remedied by such institutions engaging in activities that are directly related to the human security needs of the people. This can engender favourable public perception which is critical to sustaining PCRD. Similarly, revitalizing both formal and informal institutions affected by COVID-19 through establishing a connection between institutional activity and human needs is useful for sustaining PCRD.
One of the effects of COVID-19 on international economic relations has been the redefinition of national priorities and the mobilization of funds for COVID-19 responses. In many cases this has affected aid packages to areas that need it. As a consequence, aid-dependent communities have been urged and inspired to explore other options including local alternatives or use limited aid in a more efficient manner to address COVID-19-related needs.
Such a trend is likely to inspire the expansion of domestic capability and deepen self-reliance. It also offers platforms to reinvent ownership. Within the context of PCRD, ownership and capacity building for sustainability are ascribed preeminent status as principles for undertaking PCRD activities. Such ownership for instance is deemed critical to ensuring that PCRD activities are aligned to local needs and aspirations, enhance a common understanding of a shared vision, maximise support for PCRD through the engagement/re-engagement of the population in their governance and guarantee sustainability of recovery efforts. Capacity building also seeks to build and/or strengthen national and local capacities. The reality of reduced development assistance therefore offers a shock awakening for national resource mobilization and capacity building measures.
COVID-19 has undoubtedly affected multiple sectors across the world. Its effects on people have been equally varied ranging from mental health and psycho-social issues to exacting financial and physical effects among others. While leadership is key to deploying interventions to ease the burden of the crisis, bottom-up processes that allow spaces for affected populations to make inputs into the policy making process is critical. This is especially the case for conflict-affected populations, where they set the tone for PCRD processes. Based on the AU PCRD policy, such a linkage deepens partnerships that are deemed critical to the sustainability of PCRD. The likely spillover on political social and other sectors are equally useful.
The devastation wrought on communities by COVID-19, including those that were already affected by conflicts is unimaginable. Addressing the scale of loss towards sustainable development demands a deliberately calibrated strategy that leverages the opportunities, however modest, available in communities. What is certain is that in conflict-affected communities, COVID-19-related responses may yet offer a silver lining from which processes that strengthen PCRD initiatives, can be mined.
Dr. Philip Attuquayefio, African Union Commission Coordinator for the Regional Strategy for the Stabilisation, Recovery and Resilience of the Boko Haram affected areas of the Lake Chad Basin.
