Representatives Eliot Engel (NY-16), Michael McCaul (TX-10), Adam Smith (WA-09), Ann Wagner (MO-02), Bill Keating (MA-09), and Francis Rooney (FL-19) and Senators Chris Coons (DE), Lindsey Graham (SC), Jeff Merkley (OR), Marco Rubio (FL), and Todd Young (IN) have introduced the Global Fragility Act (H.R.2116, S.727).
The bill will:
1. Establish an interagency initiative/strategy to reduce fragility and violence –
- The Global Fragility Initiative will strengthen the effectiveness and coordination of foreign assistance programs and activities designed to reduce and address the root causes of violence, violent conflict, and fragility.2. Select pilot countries where the U.S. will implement the initiative –
- The pilot countries will be selected based on indicators of fragility and violence, including violence-related deaths, violence exposure levels, the number of people forcibly displaced due to conflict, gender-based violence, and violence against children.
- The list of pilot countries must include both “Stabilization Countries,” in which levels of violence and fragility are among the highest in the world, and “Prevention Countries,” where current levels of violence and fragility are lower, but warning signs for increases are significant and strategic engagement is likely to change that trend.
3. Provide critical funds for stabilization, prevention, and crisis response –
- Establishes the Stabilization and Prevention Fund, to be administered by the Department of State and USAID.
- Establishes the Complex Crises Fund, to be administered by USAID, to prevent or respond to emerging or unforeseen challenges and complex crises overseas.
4. Mandate evaluation and accountability –
Every two years U.S. departments and agencies carrying out the initiative must send Congress a report on progress made and lessons learned in each pilot country, including tracking of funding and changes made because of monitoring and evaluation.
Interagency teams in each pilot country will develop monitoring and evaluation indicators for measuring levels of violence and factors that contribute to violence and fragility.
