The New Deal
A short and simple overview of the New Deal for
Engagement in Fragile States and its implementation
in the Republic of South Sudan
Overview of the New Deal
The New Deal is an agreement signed in 2011 between
between 18 Governments of fragile states and more than
40 international donor countries and organizations. The
agreement requires these Governments and donors to work
better together to move fragile states out of crisis. South
Sudan is one of the countries that signed the New Deal.
Better support for fragile countries is very important. More than
1.5 billion people live in these countries. They have made little
development progress. South Sudan, like many others, will not
reach the Millennium Development Goals. Many countries also
fall back into conflict from time to time. Donors are giving aid to
fragile states, but it has not been effective enough.
In the New Deal, Governments and donors agreed to change the
way they do business, so that fragile states find a better way out
of crisis. In order to succeed, the process must be led by the
countries themselves. Governments must to a better job for their
people. Donors must provide better assistance. Governments
and donors should also work better together. According to the
New Deal, there are 3 ways to better support fragile states.
3. TRUST
To achieve the goals of the New Deal it is important to create
trust between the people, the communities, the Government and
international partners. People must be able to have confidence
that Government money and donor aid make a real difference
for them. The New Deal proposes 5 principles to help build trust:
1. Transparency, because it is important that citizens have
access to information that explains where aid and Government
money come from, on what they are spent, and where.
2. Risk-sharing, because donors and Government can reduce
the risk that money gets lost or does not achieve results, if they
work better together.
3. Use of country systems, because the laws, accounting
systems, procurement procedures and civil service will be
forced to get better, if donors and Governments and donors
start to rely on them, rather than on parallel systems.
4. Strengthen capacities, because donors and Governments
should invest more to strengthen institutions of the state and
civil society, so that states can stand on their own without help.
5. Timely and predictable aid, because donors should provide
aid that arrives quicker and can be more easily adapted.
1. Peace- and statebuilding goals (PSGs)
To guide their work in fragile states, Governments and donors
agreed to concentrate on 5 objectives. They are called the Peaceand Statebuilding Goals (PSG).
1. Legitimate politics, because inclusive political settlements
and conflict resolution are very important in fragile states.
2. Security, because it is important that people can live in security and safety.
3. Justice, because injustices should be addressed and people
must be able to defend their rights in the courts.
4. Economic foundations, because it is important to create jobs
in the private sector and livelihoods for people.
5. Revenues and services, because Governments must better
manage public money and provide better services for people.
2. FOCUS
Governments and donors also agreed that fragile states themselves must lead the process to get out of crisis. That means they
should develop their own assessments and strategies. They will
complete Fragility Assessments to understand what causes
fragility in their countries. They will create their own vision and
plan for how to get out of crisis. Governments and donors would
also agree on a Compact on how to work better together.
In South Sudan, the Fragility Assessment has been completed.
The South Sudan Development Plan defines how we can overcome fragility, and realise the vision of freedom, equality, justice,
peace and prosperity for all. To improve their partnership, the
Government, donors and civil society are now working on a New
Deal Compact for South Sudan.
the New Deal in South Sudan
As a founding member of the g7+ group of fragile states,
South Sudan volunteered in 2012 to implement the New Deal
agreement. To move out fragility, and improve the lives of the
people, Government and donors want to work better together.
Fragility Assessment
In August 2012, the Government started the New Deal process
and began a Fragility Assessment to better understand what
causes fragility in South Sudan. More than 100 people from the
central Government, state Governments, civil society, universities,
NGOs and donor agencies made the assessment together, and
looked at each Peace- and Statebuilding Goal (PSG). The results
showed that, since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005,
South Sudan has started to move out of crisis, and has begun the
'rebuild and reform' phase. The road towards resilience, however,
remains long. The Fragility Assessment report is public.
New Deal Compact
In April 2013, the Government proposed to work on a New Deal
Compact, during the South Sudan Economic Partners Conference in Washington. The objective of the Compact is to get an
agreement between Government and donors on how they can
work better together in moving South Sudan out of fragility. Under
the Compact, Government would commit to targets - called
benchmarks - for each Peace- and Statebuilding Goal. Donors
will also commit to targets for more effective aid, and provide new
types of support. Consultations on the agreement and benchmarks will be held Juba and all 10 states with Government, CSOs,
NGOs, and donors. The Compact would be signed in November.
For more info please visit http://tinyurl.com/RSS-Compact or contact the Aid Coordination Department in the Ministry of Finance.