Lessons from the Coalition: International Experiences from the Afghanistan Reconstruction
Abstract
From April 19-20, 2016, SIGAR and USIP hosted a conference on "Lessons from the Coalition: International Experiences from the Afghanistan Reconstruction." Participants included senior officials and experts from the nations and organizations involved in there construction of Afghanistan, whose discussions provided many valuable insights. Four themes emerged from the conference: 1. Conflicting goals and actors: In Afghanistan, where warfighting and development often shared the same space, there was a need to negotiate the tensions between short-term security and longer-term development goals. Trying to pursue both often led to discordant efforts. The United States Integrated Civilian-Military Plan and Denmark's interministerial strategy papers were two innovations that attempted to bridge the gap between these two sets of goals. 2. Effective donor coordination: Shared goals were the fundamental basis for effective coordination between donors. Without shared goals, coordination was little more than information sharing. There were several examples of donors with shared goals who engaged in robust coordination, including those involved with the Nordic Plus group on development assistance, those that funded the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), and those that contributed to international donor trust funds. 3. Improving chances of success through local knowledge and buy-in: The success of development efforts hinged on donors knowledge of the local areas in which they worked and their ability to obtain the buy-in of Afghans living there. Donors' ability to gather information to tailor their efforts to local conditions and needs was often undermined by their focus on measuring progress through sometimes inappropriate metrics, their inability to freely move around the country due to worsening security, and their short tours and frequent rotations. Donors sought buy-in from the local population and Afghan government to sustain development efforts.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 19, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1139961
Entities
People
- Andrew Wilder
- John Sopko
Organizations
- Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction
- United States Institute of Peace