10 November 2019, Amman, Jordan – The CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE) Working Group on Conflict and Fragility, in partnership with the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN), has organised a study conference on November 10 to 11, 2019 in Amman, Jordan.
Titled “Unpacking the ‘triple nexus’: Effective development cooperation in contexts of conflict and fragility,” the event aimed to look at the relationship between humanitarian aid, structural development, and peace, and to develop the CPDE key messages on the nexus based on the experiences of its constituencies from around the world and across various sectors.
CPDE Working Group on Conflict and Fragility Co-Chair Razan Zuayter opened the program with a statement of the conference objectives. In her speech, she also identified the primary challenges to peacebuilding, namely the absence of political will and holding stakeholders accountable.
She adds, “The policies [in context of crises must] include the need to search for the root causes of wars, hold accountable direct and indirect warmakers, and link development with humanitarian relief not only to strengthen resilience but to demand an end to conflict and prevent it from occurring at all times.”
CPDE Co-Chair Beverly Longid also affirmed this message in her keynote speech explaining that aid has yet to address the root causes of the condition that creates the need for humanitarian assistance.
“Aid must help resolve the root of conflict and fragility through relevant and people-centered development projects using a rights-based approach. We must assert that humanitarian aid should be used for the elimination of extreme poverty and vulnerability. We want to channel funds towards peacebuilding based on social justice, not war and militarism,” she added.
The first panel session had speakers representing different global regions – West Asia and North Africa (speaking on conflict, occupation, and sieges), Pacific (climate crisis), Asia (refugee crisis), Africa (famine and war), and America (border crisis). This session discussed existing policies and strategies in relation to the conflict and crisis in their regions and the challenges therein.
The second session focused on the sectoral impacts of the different forms of crises with speakers from the Feminist, Indigenous, and Rural constituencies. This session tackled how current humanitarian, peace, and development cooperation policies and strategies respond to the needs of these marginalized groups, or exacerbate the effects of the crisis on them.
The conference communique was presented in the closing which contained key messages drawn from the exchanges throughout the study conference. The communique highlights the need to promote the triple nexus approach in addressing the immediate and long-term needs of people living in conflicted, fragile, and occupied settings while maintaining its integrity from states’ security and geopolitical interests that could breed conflict.
The communique also emphasized the need for inclusion and meaningful participation of civil society organizations in humanitarian, development, and peace-building processes and initiatives as a precondition to transparency and accountability of duty-bearers. It ends with athe similar statement from the working group co-chairs’ messages that addressing the root causes of the problem remains as a vital step in finding solutions that promote a just and lasting peace and realize the right to development.
Capping the event was a symbolic pledge of support by the conference delegation to the APN’s Million Trees Campaign (MTC) which aims to support Palestinian farmers in maintaining ownership of their land by replanting trees on Palestinian lands that were razed over the years by Israeli bulldozers.
The study conference takes place in the Middle East and North Africa, home to several fragile and conflict-affected states. Nine out of the 10 largest recipients of international humanitarian assistance in 2016 are in the region.
CPDE is an open platform that unites CSOs from around the world on the issue of effective development cooperation. It strives to make development more effective by reshaping the global aid architecture and empowering CSOs working on the ground. To know more, visit csopartnership.org.#
