The Humanitarian-Development nexus
A new way of working to deliver long-lasting results for children
The volume, cost and length of humanitarian assistance over the past few years has increased dramatically. Now 89% of humanitarian funding worldwide is dedicated to responding to humanitarian needs, inevitably reducing our development aid work for children and families living under highly vulnerable conditions.
This catastrophic trend demands for both humanitarian and development efforts to be more effectively connected, working towards achieving collective outcomes that reduce need, risk and vulnerability, over multiple years. This proposed new approach is referred to as the Humanitarian-Development Nexus (HDN).
UNICEF’s approach to HDN places an emphasis on a number of key initiatives, which include strengthening systems, developing risk-informed programmes, engaging community participation, planning and preparing for emergencies, fostering partnerships and mobilising vital resources.
Our approach also stems from the basis that programme should be designed and delivered in a more complementary manner to respond earlier and more effectively to immediate needs while, at the same time, addressing vulnerabilities and building resilience that ensure long-term progress and impact.
Resilience as the basis for development
Similarly, the European Union (EU) wishes to integrate its strategic approach to resilience across all relevant areas of their work, to secure and sustain progress towards its transformational set of development, environmental, climate change, humanitarian, human rights, foreign and security policy goals.
Through this strategic focus on resilience, the EU aims to strengthen and support the preparedness and capacity of communities and families, to build upon local societies’ existing capacity, to manage opportunities and risks in a peaceful and stable manner, and to help restore livelihoods in the face of recurrent crises.
Thanks to our long-term strategic partnership, UNICEF and the EU will join forces to put greater emphasis on addressing needs resulting from protracted crises, and on breaking recurrent cycles of crisis.
