Improving coherence along the humanitarian-development-peace nexus

On May 7, 2024, the Social Protection Cash and Voucher Assistance Thematic Working Group (SPCVA TWG), held a hybrid event at the Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks (HNPW) on ‘Improving coherence along the humanitarian-development-peace nexus: Lessons learned from social protection, cash and voucher assistance coordination in Palestine.’ This event was supported by the European Union and organised in partnership with several key actors from the SPCVA TWG, including the Ministry of Social Development.

The session aimed to share learnings with the wider humanitarian community and identify key success factors that can be of relevance for other contexts, drawing from the experience of SPCVA coordination across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Discussion

Panellists shared their experience from both before and during the ongoing war in Gaza. The discussion explored how nexus coherence efforts have evolved since the recent developments of the crisis and consider what the future might look like for this topic in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

They also discussed that the strength of the Thematic Working Group is due to:

1) Building buy-in at multiple levels of actors, from political through to implementation.

2) Building trust through dialogue between actors, meaning that coordination goes beyond agency-specific agendas.

3) Combining technical and political level interventions, which has allowed for actors to focus on specific, small elements of coordination and demonstrate genuine progress.

It was discussed that relationship-building and developing a shared agenda is at the core of any potential nexus coordination, whilst building a common vision and agenda takes a long time and a lot of investment. Even in the current emergency situation, it has still been possible to use national systems to some extent. This is perhaps due to actors having built a structured approach to actual nexus coordination over the past year, beyond just lip service commitments.

This event shared new lessons and reflections for sector actors, including since the outbreak of war in October, on strengthening nexus coherence in cash and social protection programming in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Panellists

• Luca Sangalli, CashCap, National Cash Working Group Coordinator Palestine
• Manal Abu Ramadan, Ministry of Social Development, Director General of Planning and Aid Management
• Sascha Graumann, UNRWA Headquarters, Deputy Director, Relief and Social Services
• Salah Lahham, WFP, National Social Protection, Vulnerability Assessment and Resilience Lead
• Claire Mariani, UNICEF, Chief, Humanitarian Cash Transfer Unit (in person)
• Momin Badarna, International Labour Organization, National Social Protection Coordinator