Regional Initiative in Support of the Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa (HoA) region has many
security and development challenges whose origins and
consequences go well beyond the borders of individual
countries. It is also a region with many human assets and
resource endowments, and some of the most dynamic economies
in the world. Despite its numerous challenges, the Horn of
Africa offers significant potential to address cross-border
issues that can help transform its countries and the region.
This paper describes a World Bank Group (WBG) initiative to
address some of the key drivers of instability in the HoA
and promote development in the area. The initiative is
intended to build on and complement the large country and
regional programs the WBG and other partners are already
supporting in the HoA, bringing value by addressing a number
of issues which demand cross-border collaborative solutions
to reducing fragility and instability. The central
rationale to this initiative is that WBG cannot effectively
support the elimination of extreme poverty and boost shared
prosperity in the region without engaging more intensively
and creatively in addressing very difficult development
problems, including those linked to insecurity and
vulnerability. The WBG package totals $1.8 billion to be
committed over approximately 24 months, with about $600
million investments from the International Finance
Corporation (IFC) and an estimated $200 million in
guarantees from the Multilateral Guarantee Investment Agency
(MIGA). The initiative builds on two previous programs aimed
at similar issues in the Great Lakes Region (May 2013) and
the Sahel (November 2013), efforts that recognize the link
between security and development, and the importance of
giving hope to vulnerable citizens, including women and
children, that they can overcome poverty and deprivation.