Having learned from past experience, the g7+ believes that social and economic development will not be sustainable unless peacebuilding and statebuilding are prioritized in every development intervention, as these determine state-society relations. Peacebuilding and statebuilding should be seen as pre-requisites for development, and should take into account the unique context facing each country.
All actions by government actors, CSOs, private sector actors and development partners should aim to advance peacebuilding and statebuilding. At a minimum they should ‘do no harm’, and every effort should be taken to foresee possible wider negative consequences of activities in target countries.
Development is done by the people and not to the people, which implies that the countries and their peoples and governments should own the development agenda. Development plans and programmes in countries affected by conflict are all too often implemented with little or no ownership by local actors, and in a way that does not align to country priorities or development plans. The g7+ maintains that development efforts are at their most effective when they genuinely align to local plans, are adapted to the local context and are led by local actors.
Countries affected by conflict have a lot to learn from each other, and should support one another, based on their shared experiences.
