AfDB and GCERF Partner to Anchor Peace Efforts in African Development

On the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, the African Development Bank and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund signed a formal agreement to integrate community-led extremism prevention into large-scale development finance across the continent’s most fragile, conflict-affected regions.

Editorial·September 23, 2026·reads: 381

Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, Senior Vice President of the AfDB, and GCERF Governing Board Chair Stefano Manservisi finalized the Letter of Intent at the African Union’s Permanent Observer Mission. The partnership aims to bridge the gap between grassroots prevention strategies and institutional economic investment. By merging GCERF’s local expertise with the Bank’s analytical capacity, the initiative seeks to create a more resilient foundation for development in areas where social exclusion and economic stagnation often fuel instability.

This cooperation is built on the premise that preventing violent extremism is essential to protecting long-term development gains. While the Bank focuses on reducing investment risks and strengthening national institutions, GCERF provides adaptive, community-level engagement. The framework is designed to ensure that local insights directly inform national policy and resource allocation. By advancing the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus, the organizations intend to shift from top-down financing toward a model where community knowledge helps dictate the trajectory of regional investments.