U.S. policy in Afghanistan embodies the principle of ownership and focuses on
encouraging Afghans to take government leadership positions. The selection of
Hamid Karzai as President of Afghanistan is a good illustration. In December 2001,
the four major Afghan factions met in Bonn, Germany, to select an interim leader.
They subsequently chose Karzai to head the Afghan Transitional Authority. The
significance of this model is that Karzai and his ministers are all Afghan-born. Karzai
has additionally strived for ethnic balance; the interim cabinet comprehensively
represented all the various political groups in Afghanistan, from Mujahidin and
Northern Alliance factions to European and American members of the Afghan
Diaspora.
C-7. It is important to have a national lead the country and to have nationals head the ministries for several reasons. Such leaders can—
Foster national legitimacy.
Eliminate language barriers.
Develop ownership and responsibility for governance decisions.
Understand and better navigate the national political landscape.
Maximize national support of government policy.
CAPACITY BUILDING
C-8. The principle of capacity building involves the transfer of technical knowledge and skills to the local populace and institutions. Capacity building aims to strengthen national and local institutions, transfer technical skills, and promote effective policies and programs. Once met, these goals enable a long-term host-nation capacity to establish policies and provide competent sustained public services.
C-9. An important by-product of capacity building is that the country increases its ability to retain, absorb, and facilitate economic investment. The investments can come from donor assistance or from private sources of foreign direct investment. Ultimately, an improved governance and investment environment is a necessary condition for sustained economic growth in any country.
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C-10. The development community recognizes that the right government policies underscore all successful development efforts. Simply put, a country with weak governance institutions and misguided policies will have a limited ability to lead its own economic and social development. For example, it is not enough to build universities and educate a country’s population. This effort must be accompanied by direct opportunities that will allow university graduates to become future political and business leaders.
Capacity Building
In Afghanistan, USAID built individual teacher capacity using programs such as the
radio-based teacher training program. This program targets teachers who reside in
remote areas of the country. As of June 2005, some 65,000 teachers have been
trained through broadcasts that strengthen their teaching skills and spread civic and
educational messages. About 7,500 more teachers have been trained through face-
to-face instruction, and 6,800 more were taught in an accelerated training program.
As more teachers have been trained, more children have returned to school: Primary
school enrollment increased from a prewar total of one million (2001) to 4.8 million by
December 2004.
SUSTAINABILITY
C-11. Development assistance agencies design programs with an impact that endures beyond the end of the project. The sustainability principle encompasses two premises: a nation’s resources are finite, and development should ensure a balance among economic development, social development, and democracy and governance. The sustainability principle compels aid managers to consider whether the technology, institution, or service they are introducing will have a lasting effect on a society. In some cases, managers may pursue programs without long-term sustainability to establish stability. Nevertheless, program implementation affects potential long-term implications of the assistance. When implementing the program, commanders ultimately strive for attaining long-term sustainability, even when circumstances dictate short-term solutions to immediate conditions.
C-12. Sustainability is applicable in the military context. The military balances the need to execute immediate mission requirements quickly and the subsequent withdrawal of intervening forces with the obligation to develop sustainable host-nation security forces. These forces can protect the country against resurgent and future threats, both internal and external. Military forces cannot equate success with merely training and equipping host-nation forces. The best-trained military will languish and deteriorate without ongoing government support and funding. Sustainability demands that the government eventually start replacing external military assistance with domestic tax revenues to fund national military forces and other public services.
Sustainability
Civil servants of Iraq’s Diyala Province gained confidence and the capability to track
and implement resources for development through computer training. They received
the training from the local provincial reconstruction team. Employees of the Diyala
provincial government received hands-on computer literacy training, an important
step in moving Diyala towards effective self-governance. Their lack of basic
computer skills and technology slowed their capacity-building efforts. For example,
budget execution, a slow and tedious process, was done using handwritten
documents. Providing training to improve the skills of government servants was the
first step in creating a more efficient office environment. This training sped up routine
tasks that have been computerized for years in much of the world.
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An additional step in bringing Diyala into the digital age was creating a sustainable
computer infrastructure within the provincial government by providing a locally
sustainable source of electricity to power the computers. Without attention to the
second two elements, the computer training was not only likely to be a waste of time
and money but could be counterproductive; It might have disrupted what may have
been a slow but effective resource management and accounting system, leaving no
adequate system in its place.
SELECTIVITY
C-13. The selectivity principle directs U.S. bilateral assistance organizations to invest scarce aid resources based on three criteria: humanitarian need, foreign policy interests of the United States, and the commitment of a country and its leadership to reform. To maximize effectiveness, donor organizations allocate resources where resources make a significant impact and where the recipient community demonstrates a commitment to development goals. The underlying idea is that resources are finite and are most effective when concentrated together in select situations. Any allocation of resources, whether in combat operations or infrastructure projects, must consider foreign policy interests, political circumstances, and ground-level needs and requirements.
Selectivity
In Afghanistan, the restored Kabul-to-Kandahar highway illustrates the selectivity
principle. More than 35 percent of the country’s population live within 50 miles of the
highway. Restoring the highway was a high priority for the presidents of Afghanistan
and the United States. They asked USAID to implement the project over a short time.
The project was crucial to extending the influence of the new government. Since its
completion, the highway has led to increased rates of economic development,
fostered civil society development, and helped ensure unity and long-term security in
the country. In addition, the road travels through several Taliban strongholds. Its
upgrade has diminished the Taliban’s ability to exert influence in this area. The
highway was a development priority since it opened access to the cities and markets.
It serves U.S. foreign policy interests by promoting economic development, country
unity, and the commitment of the country’s leadership while counteracting Taliban
influence.
ASSESSMENT
C-14. A development assistance agency must complete a comprehensive assessment of local conditions before designing and implementing a program. Development agencies have the important task of conducting careful research, adapting best practices, and designing for local conditions. A serious concern for foreign aid programs is forcing too much money into local institutions that cannot responsibly spend the increased external funding. As a result, development agencies must consider several questions in their assessment:
Do reconstruction plans conform to conditions on the ground?
What are the best practices for each intervention?
What is the society able to absorb?
C-15. Development agencies must work with entities such as provincial reconstruction teams to ensure proposed projects fit into national plans. A democratically elected government should provide essential and needed public services. Providing services builds public support to and perceived legitimacy of the government. To facilitate this, each ministry within the government must produce a strategy that fits into the overall national development plan to maximize limited resources. Donors ensure potential programs are included in the host nation’s strategic plan and budgeted to fund their support for continuous resourcing and ultimate project effectiveness.
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Assessment
USAID’s collaboration with the provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) in
Afghanistan—which are joint civil-military organizations consisting of 70 to 80
personnel—illustrates the assessment principle. Productive development demands
that an agency complete ground-level assessments before starting a project. USAID
uses PRTs in select situations; the teams allow civilian personnel to complete field
assessments in areas that are otherwise unstable. The instability may be from the
presence of Taliban insurgents, regional warlords, drug-financed criminal
organizations, or an atmosphere of general lawlessness. With support from PRTs,
USAID has the ability to monitor critical reconstruction projects, complete needs
assessments, and mobilize local partners.
C-16. Without a comprehensive field assessment, it is almost impossible to predict whether a project will have a measurable and definable effect. The principle of assessment is linked closely to the principle of developing results. Rapid assessment techniques are vital to helping reduce delays in aid project implementation.
RESULTS
C-17. The principle of results includes directing resources to achieve clearly defined, measurable, and strategically focused objectives. The principle of results draws on the assessment principle. This principle ensures that before a donor organization invests in a certain country, it first determines its strategic objectives or what impact the donor organization and the country hope to achieve.
C-18. The donor organization and host nation must consider how they can best attain the desired impact and what types of programs and resources will lead to the goal. Together they must determine specific benchmarks. The benchmarks indicate whether the two are accomplishing their strategic objectives and whether implemented programs are achieving the intended impact.
C-19. USAID incorporates the principle of results in its programs and operations worldwide. USAID
believes that when an agency considers a program’s impact from the beginning stages, the agency will have more clearly defined and strategically focused objectives. Since 1993, the notion of managing for results has emerged as an explicit core value of the agency. When deciding whether to implement a particular project, the agency applies a “results framework” that visually depicts the objectives to be achieved by USAID and through contributions from other donor organizations.
Results
USAID Iraq’s Community Action Program works to promote grassroots democracy
and better local governance via demand-driven community development. It ensures
community buy-in by requiring communities to contribute between 15 and 25 percent
of the value of each project. Community action groups certify that projects are
completed successfully before final payments are authorized. The effort has worked
in Kirkuk, where a PRT-backed initiative helped revitalize the local market. The shop
had been a major outdoor public market, but was losing business as it degenerated
in a mass of potholes and fetid, standing water that attracted bugs and rodents.
USAID helped pave the road, install new sidewalks, and dig a drainage canal for
excess water. The local community contributed more than $10,000 to the $60,000
project. For that investment, the market is now awash in fresh fruits and vegetables,
meats, clothes, and people of all ethnicities and religions shopping at the tables and
stalls.
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PARTNERSHIP
C-20. The partnership principle holds that donor organizations should collaborate closely at all levels with partner entities, from local businesses and nongovernmental organizations to government ministries and other donors. Development agencies like USAID usually implement projects through a network of public and private partners that often include nongovernmental organizations and private contractors or private businesses. These partners can directly oversee an entire program, or a local entity like a university can implement a part of a program, such as a civic education initiative within a larger governance program.
USAID uses a highly decentralized structure, where implementation and much program design takes place in missions located in the host nation. The USAID equivalent of “commanders” is its “mission directors.”
These directors have much greater autonomy than do their counterparts in the military and most other international aid agencies. USAID missions work in a linear, horizontal organizational structure. The structure links various voluntary partnerships, many different parts of civil society, and local and national governments through voluntary agreements and funding mechanism.
Partnership
From all across Iraq, people are traveling to the northern city of Erbil to learn about
democracy, elections, civil society, and governance. The U.S. funded National
Democratic Institute (NDI) has been teaching these courses to thousands of Iraqis.
The group does not teach what policies to adopt. Instead, it teaches how to debate
issues and reach agreements peacefully. For example, in Kirkuk, where ethnic
tension is high, NDI gets representatives from the three main ethnic groups to talk
about security, services, and education. “We walk through methods of negotiation,”
said the director. Despite the violence, Iraqis still want to learn. They go to Erbil then return to their communities to try and advocate for the issues important to them, such
as services and education. The trainees back home organize in their apartment block
or use the Internet and media to organize people around issues.
C-21. USAID first seeks a strong, local partner on the ground when considering a project. This partner must be able to manage the program effectively from design and assessment to implementation. The agency has developed a set of analytical tools to determine which potential partners have the highest likelihood of success.
FLEXIBILITY
C-22. Development assistance is laden with uncertainties and changing circumstances that require an agency to assess current conditions continuously and adjust its response appropriately. The principle of flexibility maintains that agencies must be adaptable to anticipate possible problems and to seize opportunities. Flexibility must be balanced against the premise that good development takes time and reconstruction efforts should be systematized and executed on a large scale.
Flexibility
The provincial reconstruction team’s (PRT’s) role in providing procedures for safe,
secure potable water systems in Iraq illustrates the importance of being responsive
and flexible. Most people in the Fallujah District of Al Anbar Province, Iraq receive
drinking water from wells or directly from the Euphrates River, which is contaminated.
This same district lacked reliable sources on power. However, in 2008, it received
solar-powered water purification units to help prevent waterborne disease. This
purification unit is a point distribution system that uses solar panels to generate
electricity to power the pump. The pump draws source water through a series of
filters and ultraviolet lights and into a holding tank for distribution. The people then
draw water from a storage tank or directly from the unit; they do not require a water
distribution network.
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To ensure equitable placement of the units, the PRT worked closely with the Fallujah
District Council. This council consisted of the municipal and tribal leadership of the
major Fallujah subdistricts. The result is access to potable (drinking) water for the
entire population. At the same time, the PRT avoided exacerbating ethnic tensions
with preferential distribution of the units to certain groups or communities. The solar-
powered water purification units provide crucial future capacity for preventing
diseases that strike vulnerable population groups.
C-23. The fact that stability operations incorporate such an expansive agenda—encompassing everything from antiterrorism exercises to humanitarian assistance—underscores the need for military flexibility.
Flexibility is an integral component of stability operations as political considerations guide stabilization efforts. Military forces and development agencies must remain constantly aware of the political environment and be prepared to change tactics accordingly.
ACCOUNTABILITY
C-24. The host nation, donor organizations, and the development community must design accountability and transparency into systems. By doing so, they build effective checks and balances to guard against corruption, while meeting the needs of the local populace. Donors should work to fight corruption in the countries where they operate. Within the USG, oversight bodies help guard against cost overruns, financial abuse, and contractor mismanagement. These oversight bodies can include the inspector general, independent auditors, the Government Accountability Office, and congressional investigative committees.
Externally, development agencies should prevent corrupt local officials from preying on potential projects.
These same agencies should ensure that development programs enhance effective governance structures and local accountability systems. Political institutions—especially in developing countries—are fragile, and if these countries lack a strong rule of law foundation, then the risk of corruption increases.
C-25. The accountability principle closely relates to stability operations as well. The local populace must view the military operation as legitimate while perceiving that their government has real authority. If corruption takes root, either on the side of the U.S. aid program or on the part of the host-nation government, then the entire principle of legitimacy is undermined.
C-26. Agencies such as USAID follow a standard set of accountability guidelines based on institutional experience. USAID limits prime contracting to major international firms but ensures that the international firm subcontracts with local firms and builds in several layers of oversight. It distributes smaller amounts of money to local organizations to avoid overwhelming underdeveloped systems. It disperses funds only after work on a project run by a new local organization is completed or as bills arrive. The agency seldom provides up-front money to untested implementing organizations. USAID provides significant financial system training to local groups to build their capacity to handle larger sums of monetary assistance. USAID
compiles a list of corrupt organizations and bars them from receiving future funding. Finally, the agency chooses experienced organizations as primary fiduciary agents to facilitate timely and accountable completion of large-scale projects.
Accountability
The Kabul-to-Kandahar road project illustrates the first two factors in practice. USAID
selected the prime contractor, which in turn subcontracted various pieces to local
firms. For purposes of accountability, the agency built in several layers of oversight.
First, the agency has an in-country engineering staff that performed quality
assurance inspections of contractor work and that operated as watchdogs over the
entire process. Second, USAID’s inspector general consistently reviewed financial
invoices and completed two general audits to ensure regularity and compliance.
Third, the agency contracted with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide
technical oversight over the contractor. The result was that the project finished to
specification and on schedule.
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SUMMARY
C-27. The nine principles of reconstruction and development formalize customary practices and operating procedures. The principles reflect key institutional principles that most aid agencies incorporate into the reconstruction framework. The principles are designed to ensure local ownership and sustainability of program results while building local capacity and thus eventual independence from outside assistance.
They take advantage of the skills and resources others can bring to the effort by forging partnerships.
Following these principles helps the host nation to adjust reconstruction and development activities to the dynamic political environment usually encountered in a violent conflict or post-conflict situation.
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Appendix D
Interagency Conflict Assessment Overview
BACKGROUND
D-1. Successful stability operations are predicated on identifying and reducing the causes of instability and reestablishing or building community and state capacity to diminish, manage, or prevent them from recurring in the future. The conflict assessment frameworks discussed in this appendix were developed collaboratively by the departments and agencies of the United States Government (USG) to identify the causes of instability, develop activities to diminish or mitigate them, and evaluate the effectiveness of the activities in fostering stability. This appendix presents these assessment frameworks for information purposes only. Army forces use doctrinal assessment tools to inform understanding, aid in planning, and shape execution. These frameworks will inform, but not replace, those doctrinal tools.
INTERAGENCY CONFLICT ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK
D-2. Addressing the causes and consequences of weak and failed states has become an urgent priority for the USG. Conflict both contributes to and results from state fragility. To effectively prevent or resolve violent conflict, the USG needs tools and approaches that enable coordination of U.S. diplomatic, development and military efforts in support of local institutions and actors seeking to resolve their disputes peacefully.
D-3. A first step toward a more effective and coordinated response to help states prevent, mitigate, and recover from violent conflict is the development of shared understanding among USG agencies about the sources of violent conflict or civil strife. Achieving this shared understanding of the dynamics of a particular crisis requires both a joint interagency process for completing the assessment and a common conceptual framework to guide the collection and analysis of information. The interagency conflict assessment framework (ICAF) is a tool that enables an interagency team to assess conflict situations systemically and collaboratively; it supports USG interagency planning for conflict prevention, mitigation, and stabilization.
PURPOSE
D-4. The ICAF is intended to develop a commonly held understanding across relevant USG departments and agencies of the dynamics driving and mitigating violent conflict in a country. This understanding informs national policy and planning decisions. The ICAF may also include steps to establish a strategic baseline against which USG engagement can be evaluated. It is a process and a tool available for use by any USG agency to supplement interagency or military planning.
D-5. The principles of interagency conflict assessment outline the key concepts, processes, and products essential to completing an interagency assessment. The USG departments and agencies develop supplementary documents to provide a fuller treatment of the analytical framework, appropriate tools and data collection procedures, and set the composition and functions of an interagency conflict assessment team.
D-6. The ICAF draws on existing conflict assessment procedures used by USG departments and agencies as well as with some international and nongovernmental organizations. It is not intended to duplicate or replace existing independent analytical processes, such as those conducted within the intelligence community. Rather, the ICAF builds upon those and other analytical efforts to provide a common framework. It allows USG departments and agencies to leverage and share the knowledge gained from their own assessments and establish a common interagency perspective.
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D-7. The ICAF is distinct from other forecasting tools that identify countries at risk of instability or collapse and that describe conditions leading to outbreaks of instability or violent conflict. The ICAF