A focus on disaster risk reduction and peacebuilding
The humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus was brought to the fore by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Recommendation of February 2019 (OECD, 2022a), which sought to galvanise action in light of persistently high humanitarian needs and overlapping crises across the breadth of dimensions tracked in the States of Fragility reports (OECD, 2022b): economic, environmental, human, political, security, and societal.
The co-location of risks has been even more evident since, with many contexts experiencing the 3Cs of Covid-19, climate change, and conflict (Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, n.d.). In support of the HDP nexus, and independently from different entry points, there is growing interest in understanding and acting on the intersection of risks.
The diversity of ways to conceptualise and act on the HDP nexus principles and the intersection of risks reflects different contextual realities, disciplinary starting points, and political agendas. Yet there are commonalities in that most approaches seek to protect the most vulnerable from the impacts of overlapping shocks and stresses. Systemic risk management offers one avenue through which to enhance action, with the potential for progress to be made against areas identified as requiring further attention in the interim progress review of the HDP principles (OECD, 2022c). Specifically, the progress review calls for (1) climate considerations to become part of the HDP nexus, rather than siloed areas of policy and action (in the context of Using the HDP nexus as an integrator for other policy priorities), and (2) the peace and security agenda to be explicitly linked with action on DRR (in the context of Integrating a gender focus) (OECD, 2022c).
This policy brief outlines actionable recommendations how systemic risk management can be applied to enhance HDP nexus action.