By Brian Finlay, Johan Bergenas and Esha Mufti – More than
half of the people in sub-Saharan Africa live in poverty, and in certain parts
of Eastern Africa, the poverty rate exceeds 80 percent. At least 40 percent of
Africans do not have enough food, 50 percent suffer from water-related
diseases, and 40 percent of women do not have access to basic education. The
list goes on. Disease, food insecurity, and the lack of available and
affordable healthcare and education are just a few obstacles countries in the
region face.  Because of these
development needs, the Managing Across Boundaries (MAB) program chose countries
primarily in the Eastern Africa region as ones that would benefit from their
unique model of “dual benefit” assistance.

MAB
targeted nearly a dozen African countries – primarily focusing on Kenya,
Uganda, and Tanzania
– and
identified links between sustainable development issues, and human security and
capacity-building needs in Eastern Africa, and then connected these needs with
international security assistance supported under UN Security Council
Resolutions 1373 and 1540.

On
September 19, at a reception in Nairobi, Kenya, the MAB program launched their
report – a culmination of this work and their findings in the region: Beyond Boundaries in Eastern Africa: Bridging the
Security/Development Divide With International Security Assistance.

Kenyan
government officials, representatives of regional organizations, and members of
civil society in attendance at the reception were enthusiastic about the
progress made, and prospects for forthcoming collaborations with MAB in order
to improve both development and security in Eastern Africa.

Ambassador
Ocheing Adala, former Kenyan Permanent Representative to the UN and
current
director of the Africa Peace Forum, giving opening remarks.

Next steps
for MAB are to operationalize the core themes of the report.  In order to accomplish this, the team will work
closely with the Kenyan government and civil society to assist them in
attracting novel streams of assistance to fill capacity shortfalls, particularly
in border security.  In other words, the team will help
implement “dual-benefit” assistance solutions to bridge the divide between hard
security concerns, such as border security that can contribute to nuclear
weapons proliferation and terrorism, and softer security and development goals,
particularly combating the spread of infectious diseases.

In the
days following the reception, MAB director Mr. Brian Finlay and research
analyst Mr. Johan Bergenas joined more than 40 Kenyan government officials
during a workshop on strategic trade controls. 
Mr. Finlay and Mr. Bergenas gave presentations covering various assistance
opportunities and the “dual-benefit” model for implementing Resolution
1540.  The meeting was organized jointly
by the United States Government and the University of Georgia’s Center for
International Security and Trade.

The
Stimson Center, in partnership with governments, regional organizations, the
United Nations and civil society, has already established successful pilot
initiatives in
the Caribbean and Central America. Analysis and programming is being
implemented in the Andean region, the Middle
East,
and Southeast
Asia.