Bridging the Gaps – HDP Nexus

The Humanitarian, Development
& Peace (HDP) Triple Nexus

International assistance is traditionally separated into humanitarian relief and development cooperation. Humanitarian organizations offer short-term protection during emergencies (saving lives and alleviating suffering), while development organizations work in stabilized environments to improve long-term social and economic wellbeing.

Crises rarely have clearly defined end dates when humanitarian actors can leave and development work begins. Crises may last for years or even decades and the transition period between crisis and development is often impossible to define, contingent upon politics between different international actors, and thus extremely difficult to address. 

At RET, we believe our mandate centered on young people and vulnerable women allows us to propose relevant solutions to bridge the gaps between humanitarian relief and development aid. We have been characterized as providers of tailor-made contextual solutions, converging our actions to respond to crises and protracted crises by preventing, preparing for, and responding to immediate and long-term needs of crisis-affected populations.

This is ultimately what bridges the gaps in know-how and methods between the different types of aid provided by the international community, governments, or local communities.  RET not only protects but also lays the foundations for sustainable interventions of the future.

For a transition from crisis to stable societies to occur, a peace dimension should be recognized. 

The HDP Triple Nexus Approach 
RET’s actions using the (HDP) triple nexus approach is complemented with a peace dimension. The inclusion of the peace dimension in the nexus acknowledges the vital importance of conflict sensitivity and community stabilization in ending humanitarian need, reducing poverty, and ensuring sustainable development, eventually building the self-reliance of young people and women and ending their need for external support. 

The HDP triple nexus recognizes that humanitarian, development, and peace actions all have a role to play. Humanitarian response is live-saving and protects people; development assistance seeks to address multi-dimensional structural challenges, while peace action ensures that communities are stabilized and can co-exist, and that diversity is respected.
This is what our mandate sets out to do. RET works specifically with young people and women, and this is crucial. Young people are already potential actors during a crisis, agents of social change, while also representing the future of their communities. They have essential roles in both the present and the future, which is less the case of other demographic groups such as children and the elderly. 

RET, therefore, works with the key cohort among the populations at risk (young people & women) and employs the proper life-saving, development and peace tools to propose efficient strategies to bridge the gaps. This makes our mandate not only unique but holistic, tailor-made with a more significant impact.

By using the triple nexus approach in multiple key areas of intervention, RET’s mandate, focused on young people and women, allows its teams to propose relevant solutions and ensures a more durable impact.

In the section “How We Do It,” you can read more about RET’s Multi-sectoral interventions and the various areas/sectors we work in!