NORRAG Blog Series – Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus

This blog series examines how the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus can inform—and has informed—education programming in diverse geographies. Despite numerous global policy reforms and initiatives in the 10 years since the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, the practical implementation of the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus continues to face challenges in the international arena. Persistent funding silos, duplication and competition among actors, and limited coordination across sectors have hindered its full potential. Naming the HDP Nexus in global policy did not breathe it into being; education actors at the chalkface work through Nexus approaches simply because this complexity is the backdrop to their efforts to provide quality education.

Education operates in contexts that integrate emergency response, long-term development, and peacebuilding efforts. Quality education–formal and non-formal–has the ability to bring children, young people and communities together. Yet education across the Nexus is often considered a niche area, an add-on, rather than a central part of education policy discussions. Education across the Nexus is prepared to be responsive to conflict, pandemics or disasters, supports the emotional needs of learners and teachers, promotes sustainable development and aims to build peace. Literacy and numeracy alone cannot repair the trauma of conflict, disaster or displacement; they cannot promote respect towards displaced learners and teachers; they cannot create the values necessary to build a peaceful, just and sustainable future. This blog series wants to hear from those of you who have done just this.

Contributions may respond to—or challenge—our thematic priorities:

• Taking stock, assessing the current status and relevance of the Nexus framework in education and aid, examining coherence, financing models, and lessons learned.
• Centring humanity focuses on reimagining education centred on human well-being, with examples from psychosocial support, social and emotional learning (SEL), and community and social resilience.
• Teaching at the heart of the Nexus explores the crucial role of teachers, emphasising their professional development, agency, well-being and central function in building a just peace.
• Leading locally examines the necessity of shifting power to local leadership and solutions, focusing on empowering community actors, integrating community and national systems, and addressing structural barriers to funding and coordination.
• Making the connections focuses on examining lessons from coordinating bodies, integrating child protection with education, bridging evidence systems, and advancing anticipatory action.

Please refer to the general guidelines for NORRAG blog submissions to contribute.

Find below the most recent posts in the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus Blog Series