The International Islamic Charity Organization (IICO), represented by the Tamkeen Initiative for developing the capabilities of workers in the charitable field, in cooperation with the International Council of Voluntary Agencies, the United Nations Development Program and the NEXUS Academy, organized a training workshop entitled “Methodology of Integration between Humanitarian Work and Development and Peace Efforts during Crisis Response” at the United Nations headquarters in Kuwait.

This workshop comes in light of the worsening crises and their continuation for long periods, which calls for the necessity of applying the methodology of integration and interconnection between humanitarian work, development and peace, because this approach has a pivotal role in addressing the root causes of crises and enhancing the effectiveness of humanitarian interventions.

Furthermore, the workshop aims to provide humanitarian and charitable organizations with the knowledge and skills necessary to understand the methodology of integration between humanitarian work and development and peace efforts, and to explore ways to apply this methodology during the organizations’ response to crises in the Middle East and North Africa region.

In this context, 27 leaders from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Social Affairs and the Humanitarian Work Sector in the State of Kuwait participated in the workshop, with the aim of enhancing synergy between humanitarian and development work and its efficiency, and enhancing the contribution to building social cohesion and peace.

 Sustainable Development Solutions

For his part, the Deputy Director General of the IICO for Projects Sector, Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa, said, “The workshop comes at a very important and critical time, as the world is experiencing many long-term humanitarian crises, which calls for deep thinking and innovation in ways of effective response. He also noted that humanitarian crises do not only require urgent relief support, but also require thinking about sustainable and innovative development solutions, in order to enhance the values ​​of peace, stability and recovery in affected communities.”

Moreover, he stressed the importance of the "Nexus" or what is known as the "Nexus Approach", which combines humanitarian development work and peace efforts within one framework. This approach represents an important and constructive step towards addressing the root causes of crises and achieving an advanced level of coordination and joint action among all concerned parties to ensure a comprehensive and effective response.

He expressed his hope that the workshop would contribute to providing participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to apply this approach in various charitable and humanitarian work contexts, explore funding opportunities that support these efforts, and enhance the capabilities of humanitarian organizations to develop sustainable strategies that would positively reflect on communities affected by crises.

Groundbreaking Partnership

Al Mutawa continued, saying, “We believe that effective cooperation and partnership with international and local institutions, as well as benefiting from practical expertise and field experiences, are among the basic pillars for achieving distinguished results in the fields of humanitarian work, sustainable development, peace and stability in societies. We have pioneering partnership experiences with UN agencies, as we are proud of our cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme through a memorandum of understanding, and our membership in (International Council for Voluntary Agencies).”

Furthermore, Al-Mutawa extended his sincere thanks to the partners who contributed to organizing this workshop, and to the representatives of governmental and charitable institutions in the workshop, looking forward to the workshop being an important starting point towards developing innovative strategies to alleviate the suffering of those affected and enhance the sustainability of development and peace efforts.

The workshop, which was attended by the President of the Nexus Academy, representatives of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies, and the United Nations Development Program, provided an introduction to the methodology of integrating humanitarian, development, and peace work, in addition to a group discussion on the importance of the Nexus approach, answering the question “Why the Nexus approach?”, and the importance of integrating humanitarian, development, and peace efforts.

It also dealt with some experiences with the Nexus approach to work, as well as how to apply it in the Middle East and North Africa region. In addition to presenting best practices and case studies in the Sudan and Yemen.

In addition, the workshop touched on current funding opportunities and advocacy strategies for the Nexus approach, and how for non-governmental organizations advocacy can advocate for better funding for this approach, in addition to strategies for applying it in crisis contexts.

Participants gained a comprehensive understanding of the humanitarian-development-peace integration methodology with its practical applications during crises, by engaging in interactive and group discussions to develop specialized plans during implementation, and exploring funding opportunities and advocacy plans to support initiatives.

International Council for Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)

Founded in 1962, the International Council of Voluntary Agencies is a global network of more than 160 non-governmental organizations operating in 160 countries at global, regional and local levels.

The network’s mission is to make humanitarian action more professional and effective by working collectively and independently to influence policy and practice. As a network of non-governmental organizations advocacy, International Council for Voluntary Agencies brings together civil society organizations from around the world and acts as a bridge between them and the United Nations, governments and regional organizations.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the United Nations' global development network, an organization that advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP's activities in the Arab States region focus on supporting work in sustainable development, capacity building, women's empowerment, energy and environment.

Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus Approach

“The humanitarian, development and peace nexus” means that humanitarian, development and peace actors work together more cohesively to meet people’s needs, address the root causes of crises, promote sustainable development, build resilience in fragile and conflict-affected areas, and move towards sustainable peace.

The workshop seeks to discuss practical solutions for achieving effective cooperation under different frameworks such as the Humanitarian Response Plan, the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, national development plans, and regional plans such as the Tripartite Humanitarian Response Plan.

Tamkeen Initiative...47 training programs

This workshop came within the programs of the “Tamkeen” Initiative to develop the capabilities of workers in the charitable field in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs, under a partnership agreement signed in March 2018.

Since the launch of the initiative, the number of its training programs has reached 47 programs, presented by experts and specialists over a period of 17 days, with the participation of representatives from 50 charitable institutions and government agencies, and the number of participants reached 1,709 trainees.