Over the past few years, several initiatives have recognised the importance of bridging the divide between humanitarian and development actors (and more recently also peace actors). For food security, this is especially relevant. The food crises leading to acute food insecurity are generally protracted, which means they often cannot be resolved by humanitarian assistance alone.  Reducing the impact of such protracted crises therefore requires meeting immediate needs whilst investing in the medium to long-term to end needs by reducing risks, vulnerabilities and drivers of conflict and contributing to sustainable development and ‘sustained peace’.  

The New Way of Working and the ‘Nexus’ 

Humanitarian and development actors pledged to work more closely together, in 2015, to ‘leave no-one behind’ and to deliver on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Following this, at the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), the humanitarian community agreed that business as usual was not delivering the results needed and agreed on a New Way of Working (NWOW). The NWOW supported the implementation of the ‘humanitarian development nexus approach’. It called on humanitarian and development actors to capitalize on their comparative advantages and work collaboratively towards “collective outcomes” that reduce need, risk and vulnerability over multiple years (see also 1.3 on the WHS, the Grand Bargain and NWOW).

The NWOW and ‘the humanitarian–development-peace nexus’ (HDPN) (the ‘peace’ pillar was added in recognition that most serious humanitarian crises are conflict-related) have aimed to transcend long-standing conventional thinking, the “silo” approach, mandates, and other attitudinal, institutional and funding barriers. 

Related work includes the adoption by IASC of humanitarian–development collaboration as a strategic priority leading to Results Group 4 (transitioned in 2022 to ‘IASC Task Force 4’, see 1.4.2), the UN Secretary General´s reform efforts related to the development system (including for example the UNSDCF as well as the UN Joint Steering Committee established by the UNSG to advance humanitarian and development collaboration within and outside of the UN). In addition, the UNSG has increased the emphasis on ‘peace’ as the third pillar of the nexus through the Sustaining Peace Agenda focused on building peace and resilience. 

The Peace Pillar 

 While the importance of collaboration with developments actors is well established in relation to shifting from supporting immediate needs to more sustainable activities (see 4.3.5 on early recovery), the ‘peace pillar’ of the nexus is also critical for food security. Violent conflict is not only recognized as an obstacle to achieving the SDGs by 2030, it is also increasingly a main driver of food insecurity at global level. In addition, food insecurity can itself be a cause of conflict.  

In conflict contexts, efforts to strengthen the nexus should ensure that food security programming does no harm and is ‘conflict sensitive’. It is important to understand how aid interacts with conflict in order to mitigate unintended damaging effects and to influence conflicts positively wherever possible. In certain circumstances, humanitarian–development activities can actively contribute to improving the prospects for local peace, in line with the UN’s Sustaining Peace agenda. Similarly, peace pillar actors can contribute with advice on conflict drivers, the prevention of new conflicts, local level contributions to sustaining peace such as working with communities over natural resource management etc. (further good practice can be found in WFP’s Contribution to Improving the Prospects for Peace, 2019).