Operationalizing the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus: Lessons from Colombia, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia and Turkey

This report explores the International Organization for Migration’s experience with the humanitarian–development–peace nexus (HDPN) in Colombia, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia and Turkey, with a focus on systemic enablers and barriers to its operationalization. The results highlight the importance of political willingness, inclusive legal and policy frameworks, comprehensive national development plans that take the effects of crisis into consideration, as well as effective interministerial and national–subnational level coordination. It also points to the importance of joined-up inter-agency analysis and coordination of promoting accountability through monitoring progress towards collective outcomes. It underlines the value of giving visibility to the government in the delivery of services to rebuild trust and the social contract. The report also stresses that transition, recovery and peacebuilding programming is instrumental for contributing to conditions that are more suitable for development efforts, much in line with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee Recommendation on the HDPN, including efforts explicitly designed to initiate transformational change in humanitarian contexts. Finally, it highlights the challenge presented by gaps between humanitarian and development funding streams. It thus underscores the need for more flexible, multi-year funding as a crucial enabler of HDPN programming, in particular, towards more adaptive programming that contributes to conditions in crisis contexts that are more suitable for development efforts.