Peace and Official Development Assistance

This paper provides a detailed analysis of the use of development spending to sustain peace – conceptualised by the United Nations in 2016 as a holistic approach towards preventing the outbreak, escalation, continuation, and recurrence of conflict. It seeks to clarify the ‘peace’ dimension in the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) nexus, including with regards to what official development assistance (ODA) for peace constitutes. The analysis assesses the balance of total bilateral peace ODA from all official donors to all ODA-allocable countries, including to fragile and conflict-affected contexts, according to the most recently available 2021 data. This paper aims to inform policy discussions on existing ODA allocations for peacebuilding and conflict prevention, including where resources may not be commensurate with conflict risks. In doing so, this report will assist Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members to understand how and to what extent their assistance policies and funding decisions support objectives to sustain peace.