The Triple Nexus

The humanitarian-development-peace nexus, or the Triple Nexus, has come increasingly under the spotlight in recent years as the international community seeks to strengthen coherence between the three dimensions. Danish Red Cross has produced a position paper aimed at detailing our position on a triple nexus approach which reflects overall interlocking systems and mechanisms of peace, development and humanitarian interventions.

Download position paper 

Background

The concept of the ‘Triple Nexus’ was eveloped in response to the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, when discussion focused on the limitations of the conceptualisation of the ‘double nexus’ of humanitarian and development work. Peace (or peace-building) was introduced as a third essential dimension in response to situations of conflict and fragility, leading to a shift in con­ceptual frameworks, policies and new funding approaches in response to crisis situations and disasters.

Some State donors, such as Denmark, have consequently increased their focus on stabilisation efforts in fragile and conflict-affected contexts adopting a comprehensive approach. While the term ‘triple nexus’ is still not clearly defined and has not been fully operationalised, the broad goal of a triple nexus approach is to reduce needs by addressing root causes of con­flict, thereby promoting peaceful contexts for sustainable development.

The inclusion of the peace-building dimension in humanitarian response poses a new set of challenges for organisations like Danish Red Cross. Donors increasingly tie this aspect to funding opportunities. It adds to the complexity of our actions and involves an increased risk of politicisation or perception of politicisation of humanitarian and development work.

With these challenges in mind, Danish Red Cross has produced a position paper aimed at detailing our position on a triple nexus approach. The paper reflects the overall interlocking systems and mechanisms of peace, development and humanitarian interventions. It focuses on eight key positions taken by Danish Red Cross in how our actions interact with the Triple Nexus.


The key principles:

  1. Our engagement with the triple nexus approach is rooted in principled humani­tarian action. People and communities must remain the primary stakeholders and beneficiaries.
  2. We contribute to overall nexus goals through ‘peace-enabling’ actions with a focus on conflict-sensitive local engagement, underpinned by a ‘do no harm’ commit­ment.
  3. We seek to leverage our Fundamental Principles and mandate (including the pro­motion of international humanitarian law compliance) in relation to conflict miti­gation and confidence-building, both among parties to conflict and other relevant stakeholders.
  4. We will limit our operations to humanitarian activities when our conflict analysis flags significant risks related to working across the triple nexus.
  5. We will not support a triple nexus approach as a crisis management instrument, as these risks prioritizing political objectives above the needs of the most vulnerable.
  6. We support a triple nexus approach that is based on the recognition and safe­guarding of the specific roles and mandates of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Move­ment and other civil society actors.
  7. We support programming and funding mechanisms across the triple nexus that are designed to enable the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and other civil society actors to meaningfully fulfil their respective mandates and roles.
  8. We will encourage a context sensitive approach in promoting triple nexus engage­ment and collective outcome rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach.


Event: “The Triple Nexus: from Concept to Operationalization”
In November 2020 The Danish Red Cross and the Danish Permanent Representation to the EU hosted a virtual event on how we move to operationalization of the triple nexus. By looking into how different actors understand and operationalize the Triple Nexus, the event focused on going from the theoretical concepts into the operational realities, unpacking how it implements on the ground. #TripleNexus