The Global Fragility Act Coalition’s Statement on the Transmission of the 10-Year GFA Plans to Congress
Washington, DC, USA — The Global Fragility Act Coalition, co-led by the Alliance for Peacebuilding and Mercy Corps and comprised of more than 100 peacebuilding, humanitarian, faith-based, and development organizations working to ensure the successful implementation of the Global Fragility Act (GFA), welcomes the transmission of the 10-year plans for the four priority countries and one region selected for the GFA to Congress. The GFA is a game-changing law that has the potential to transform U.S. foreign policy and assistance by centering and integrating conflict prevention and peacebuilding into U.S strategies.
The GFA Coalition is grateful for the work of the interagency in developing the 10-year plans over the last year, including their efforts to consult with civil society throughout the drafting process. The GFA Coalition now calls on the U.S. Government to urgently scale up GFA implementation in close consultation with U.S. and local civil society in the priority countries/region. We also urge Congress to provide robust and flexible funding to resource the operationalization of the 10-year plans.
The bipartisan GFA was signed into law in December 2019, and the U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability was released in December 2020. In April 2022, the Biden Administration announced Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Haiti, Libya, and Coastal West Africa (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, and Togo) would be the priority areas for GFA implementation. The law requires coordinated, evidence-based programs and foreign policy decision making across the U.S. Government to address the drivers of violence and conflict, mandates close partnership with civil society, and elevates local leadership. These concepts could be revolutionary for U.S. foreign policy, paving the way for more cost-effective upstream conflict prevention interventions.
Furthermore, in Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) and throughout the lifecycle of the GFA, Congress must provide substantial funding for GFA accounts to ensure the key agencies have the requisite resources for the GFA to succeed. Specifically, in FY24, Congress should appropriate $200 million for the Prevention and Stabilization Fund (PSF); $75 million for the Complex Crises Fund; and $25 million for the Multi-Donor Global Fragility Fund, separate and distinct from the PSF. Congress must also address existing legal barriers to expedite implementation and take measures to provide integrated, non-earmarked, and adaptive funding streams, support to address personnel shortages, and an exemption of the “material support” prohibition for peacebuilding organizations operating in the GFA countries/region.
Now, the real work begins to implement a fundamental shift to more effective, sustainable, and strategic U.S. foreign policy that can work toward preventing and reducing violent conflict and building sustainable peace.
The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), named the “number one influencer and change agent” among peacebuilding institutions worldwide, is an award-winning nonprofit and nonpartisan network of 180+ organizations working in 181 countries to prevent and reduce violent conflict and build sustainable peace. AfP cultivates a network to strengthen and advance the peacebuilding field, enabling peacebuilding organizations to achieve greater impact—tackling issues too large for any one organization to address alone.