Doing Nexus Differently: How can humanitarian and development actors link or integrate humanitarian action, development, and peace?

Two-thirds of all humanitarian assistance is provided to long-term recipients facing protracted crises of a duration of eight years or more. This number reflects the great need to reconsider the longstanding impact of aid and its connections with development and peace more consistently. CARE International in the MENA region, through the Regional Applied Economic Empowerment Hub, aims to contribute to programmatic learning and organisational innovation with regard to specific themes with high relevance for the MENA region and beyond. One of its key research streams has become the Nexus (meaning greater integration of Humanitarian/Development/Peace activities) utilizing different resources and research methods, including an organisational-wide engagement process.

This discussion paper is part of this process which has utilized webinars, surveys, global case studies, literature reviews, and summary papers to pull discussions and lessons from many departments and teams of CARE’s global presence, including more than 30 global and regional thought leaders. This paper targets a wide range of global stakeholders of the humanitarian and development sectors with the following aims:

• Present and strengthen the internal and external evidence of and for a different Nexus approach that works better for our impact groups.
• Contribute to internal and external dialogue, build a collective voice among peer organizations, create linkages with partners (research institutes, specialists in the field) and influence the way the Nexus is, and will be, implemented globally and locally.