The African Development Bank (AfDB) and its international partners are jointly organizing an Africa regional consultation on peace-building and state-building in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 7-9 September 2011. The co-organizers include the International Dialogue on Peace-building and State-building, OECD and the fragile and post-conflict countries group, as well as the African Union Commission and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

This conference is designed to provide substantive ideas and inputs to feed into the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) agenda as well as into other on-going processes focused on issues of conflict and fragility. Participants will consider trends and specific challenges of conflict and fragility on the African continent. They will discuss emerging consensus on peace-building and state-building priorities. The attendees will also explore changes required to make aid more effective in conflict-affected and fragile countries, based on existing evidence and policy discussions. The consultations will further deliberate on the progress made by donors and partner countries in implementing the commitments made in the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. The outcome of the consultations will be used to inform the HLF 4 that takes place at Busan, South Korea from 29th November to 1st December 2011.

The Addis Ababa meeting will bring together a very high-level participation of African and Asian ministers and senior-level government officials from fragile and post conflict countries, regional organizations, international partners and civil society organizations. It will provide an opportunity to discuss on-going responses, create linkages between the stakeholders and identify common messages and best practices that can be taken to the HLF4 to improve aid effectiveness in fragile and conflict affected states.