WDR 2011: Conflict, Security, and Development (World Bank)

The World Development Report (WDR) 2011: Conflict, Security, and Development examines the changing nature of violence in the 21st century and underlines the negative impact of repeated cycles of violence on a country or region’s development prospects. 

Based on new research, case studies and extensive consultations with leaders and development practitioners throughout the world, the report argues that preventing violence and building peaceful states that respond to the aspirations of their citizens requires strong leadership and concerted national and international efforts. 

It provides a set of tools that have been valuable to countries making successful transitions out of repetitive cycles of violence. They include transparency measures, special budget allocations for disadvantaged groups, new appointments, removal of discriminatory laws as well as credible commitments to realistic timelines for longer-term reform. 

The report also outlines five practical programmes at the national level to link rapid confidence-building to longer-term institutional transformation:

- Support for community-based programmes for preventing violence, creating employment and delivering service, and offering access to local justice and dispute resolution systems in insecure areas; 

- Programmes to transform security and justice institutions in ways that focus on basic functions and recognise the linkages among policing, civilian justice and public finances; 

- Basic job creation schemes, including large scale public and community-based works that do not crowd out the private sector, access to finance to bring producers and markets together, and the expansion of access to assets, skills, work experience and finance; 

- Involving women in security, justice and economic empowerment programmes; and 

- Focused anti-corruption actions that demonstrate how new initiatives can be well governed, drawing on external and community capacity for monitoring.