Aid Dependency and Localization

Humanitarian actors are committed to adopting a humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus approach to reduce aid dependency and strengthen resilience. This includes advancing and contributing to common planning frameworks and strengthening national systems and service delivery (such as health, education and social protection), and supporting livelihoods and self-reliance among affected populations. GPPi’s work explores how organizations can adapt policies and operational approaches to effectively bridge humanitarian and development efforts, ensuring more sustainable, locally driven outcomes. Discover some of our key observations from past work: 

Refugee access to the labor market can significantly increase household income and reduce protection needs – even when and external shock like the Covid-19 pandemic hits.

Doubling Down on the Nexus: UNHCR’s Engagement in Humanitarian-Development Cooperation 2018 – 2021

Relying on national systems will often bring service quality down – a trade-off humanitarians need to navigate.

Doubling Down on the Nexus: UNHCR’s Engagement in Humanitarian-Development Cooperation 2018 – 2021

Access to services and resident status can be strong drivers of self-reliance.

The Nexus Agenda: How to Stay the Course

Humanitarian actors can promote including refugees in national social protection through aligning humanitarian cash programmes with national social protection systems.

How to Stay the Course

Humanitarian assistance creates incentives. Work with them and create incentives for affected people that support long-term development.

Evaluation: The International Response to the Humanitarian Crisis in Somalia

Joint situation analyses and needs assessments between humanitarians and development actors are essential to develop a common understanding of the crisis situation and to harmonize policies.

Improving Humanitarian Assistance: A Transatlantic Agenda for Action