{"id":5407,"date":"2025-06-24T11:43:56","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T11:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/?p=5407"},"modified":"2025-06-25T07:57:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T07:57:30","slug":"interview-a-pragmatic-approach-to-the-triple-nexus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/5407\/interview-a-pragmatic-approach-to-the-triple-nexus\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview \u2014 A Pragmatic Approach to the Triple Nexus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The humanitarian-development-peace nexus has become a guiding principle for international cooperation. To gain deeper insight into what this \u201ctriple nexus\u201d entails in practice, Unit\u00e9, an umbrella organization that includes Eirene Suisse, commissioned a study on its application within its member organizations and their partners in the Global South.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Oliver J\u00fctersonke brings extensive experience as a triple nexus specialist having worked for multiple aid agencies, state authorities, and civil society. Unit\u00e9 was fortunate to have him author this study<\/a> which is based on document analysis, survey questionnaires, and in-depth interviews with respondents from across their networks. The following interview explores the study\u2019s most important concepts, findings and recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you give us a short definition of the triple nexus?<\/strong>
The triple nexus refers to the linkages between the humanitarian, development, and peace (or peacebuilding) spaces. It calls for greater alignment across these three areas of programming, as they increasingly operate in parallel within complex settings marked by both human-made conflict and natural disasters. It encourages organizations to be more aware of each other \u2013 not necessarily to blur mandate boundaries or pursue the same objectives, but to coordinate more closely, improve coherence, and build on complementarities to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of aid delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In your study, you advocate for more \u201cnexus thinking\u201d and \u201cConflict Sensitive Program Management (CSPM)\u201d. What is the difference between those two?<\/strong>
I use the term \u201cnexus thinking\u201d to suggest that development, humanitarian, and peacebuilding actors should recognize that their work is part of a broader puzzle in today\u2019s protracted crises. You can\u2019t do \u201ctraditional\u201d development cooperation in a conflict-affected setting marked by mass displacement and climate change.
Conflict sensitivity, on the other hand, is the glue that helps hold the pieces together. It prompts us to ask: how do my interventions relate to those of other actors in the HDP space? The analytical tools offered by CSPM can help us ask the right questions and find simple, day-to-day ways to address them in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you mean that CSPM should be systematically integrated into development programs and projects? Would this not increase the already challenging administrative burden, particularly affecting smaller NGOs?<\/strong>
Yes, for smaller organizations, this can feel overwhelming at first. But the study suggests that these topics are not separate boxes to tick. They are deeply interrelated and can reinforce one another. They should not be viewed as reporting chores to be addressed once or twice a year to satisfy donor requirements. A conflict-sensitive mindset should be part of everyday work, on all levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When simple conflict analysis tools are integrated into staff meetings or regular situational updates, for example, you\u2019re already encouraging \u201cnexus thinking\u201d \u2013 mapping the actors in your environment, identifying dividers and connectors, and reflecting on how your work interacts with others in the humanitarian, development and peace spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the most important findings of the study?<\/strong>
One major finding concerns the jargon: the concepts behind \u201cCSPM\u201d and \u201cnexus thinking\u201d are already part of everyday practice \u2013 just not consciously framed that way. You might have a partner working closely with humanitarian organizations to support flood victims, or a religious leader helping mediate family disputes within a parish. But when asked about the \u201ctriple nexus,\u201d they might reply: \u201cNever heard of it.\u201d
The study also highlights the need to adjust reporting practices to better capture these micro-level activities. Many of them relate directly to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 on peaceful, just, and inclusive societies. Yet few of Unit\u00e9\u2019s member organizations systematically report on SDG 16. It is sometimes due to their programming focus lying elsewhere; other times it\u2019s due to limited staff capacity or uncertainty around measuring peace-related outcomes. As a result, a lot of valuable, Nexus-relevant work risks going unreported or under-recognized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what recommendations can be derived from this?<\/strong>
The study avoids prescribing formal \u201crecommendations\u201d and instead proposes a series of modest \u201caction points\u201d aimed at Unit\u00e9, its member organizations, and its wider network, including partners.
Among the most important is the call to integrate regular actor mapping and basic situational analysis into day-to-day organizational routines. As mentioned earlier, conflict sensitivity does not require long, heavy, data-intensive exercises. Instead, it can be adopted as a shared mindset \u2013 embedded in staff meetings, check-ins with country partners, and exchanges with professional volunteers.
This kind of situational awareness is also a key enabler of what I describe as \u201cnexus thinking\u201d: a way of remaining attuned to how different actors and interventions interact across the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) spectrum. It also strengthens the case for recognizing and valuing micro-level, locally-driven contributions \u2013 many of which are meaningful but currently fall outside the scope of standard development reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the link between the triple nexus and locally-led development?<\/strong>
Both concepts rest on the premise that top-down aid delivery is inadequate and often counterproductive. The localization agenda (across all three sectors) underscores the central role of national and subnational actors in navigating complex environments and shaping context-specific responses.
The more fragile the setting, the more crucial it becomes to support partner organizations as sovereign decision-makers equipped to manage evolving dynamics and adjust strategies accordingly. \u201cNexus thinking\u201d reinforces this shift by encouraging collaboration, adaptive programming, and long-term investments in local capacities.
Although both concepts emerged from multilateral efforts to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of aid \u2014 and are therefore sometimes dismissed as donor-driven or instrumentalized jargon \u2014 they ultimately aim to promote local ownership and support context-rooted actors and stakeholders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The humanitarian-development-peace nexus has become a guiding principle for international cooperation. To gain deeper insight into what this \u201ctriple nexus\u201d entails in practice, Unit\u00e9, an umbrella organization that includes Eirene Suisse, commissioned a study on its application within its member organizations and their partners in the Global South. Dr. Oliver J\u00fctersonke brings extensive experience as … Interview \u2014 A Pragmatic Approach to the Triple Nexus<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[],"issue":[374],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"\u00e0 propos","author_link":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/author\/apropos\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WEB-Eirene_3_srgb-600x332.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Reports<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Reports<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on June 24, 2025","modified":"Updated on June 25, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on June 24, 2025 11:43 am","modified":"Updated on June 25, 2025 7:57 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5407"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5407"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5852,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5407\/revisions\/5852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5407"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koff.swisspeace.ch\/apropos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=5407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}