The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) have entered into a partnership aimed at strengthening investment in fragile and conflict-affected communities across Africa.

The two organisations signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to establish a framework for cooperation that will connect community-led prevention initiatives with development financing, economic opportunities and sustainable development.

The agreement was signed on Monday, September 21, on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States. Senior Vice President of the African Development Bank Group, Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, signed for the bank, while Chair of the GCERF Governing Board, Stefano Manservisi, represented GCERF.

The partnership is expected to combine GCERF’s community-level knowledge and local partnerships with the AfDB’s analytical capacity, financing expertise and operational reach.
According to the organisations, the collaboration will focus on strengthening development outcomes in environments affected by fragility and conflict, where limited economic opportunities and social exclusion can undermine investment and development gains.
Manservisi said investments aimed at preventing violent extremism could also support sustainable development by strengthening links between local resilience, economic opportunities and long-term stability.

“By bringing GCERF’s community-level experience together with the African Development Bank’s development expertise and reach, we can build stronger connections between local resilience, economic opportunity and long-term stability,” he said.
Akin-Olugbade said the partnership would enable the bank to contribute to de-risking investments, strengthening institutions and aligning financing with national development priorities, while GCERF would provide community-level prevention and local engagement expertise.

“Together, we can ensure that resilience is not only financed from the top down, but shaped and sustained from the ground up,” she said.

Under the agreement, the AfDB and GCERF will combine community-level insights with development expertise to inform policies and investments in fragile settings.
The organisations will also explore joint initiatives, promote knowledge sharing and identify investment opportunities capable of strengthening prevention, resilience and national development outcomes.

The partnership is expected to support a people-centred approach to addressing fragility while advancing the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus by linking local prevention programmes with broader development investments.