Beyond the crisis: strengthening nexus coherence for social protection in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Around the world, emergencies are becoming more complex and protracted. To address them effectively, we need to strengthen the connection between humanitarian action, development efforts, and peacebuilding. This is what the humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach is all about. This “new way of working” means improving cooperation, collaboration and coordination between humanitarian and development partners, to transition smoothly from humanitarian response to stabilization, recovery, development and peace.

In the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), humanitarian and development partners working on social assistance programming have spent the past 2 years building up innovative coordination mechanisms in line with the nexus approach. Since October 2023, the war in Gaza and subsequent deterioration in the West Bank could have put a definitive stop to this “new way of working”. But trust built amongst nexus actors prevented the approach from falling apart. Instead, partners are accelerating efforts to increase the alignment of humanitarian and development agendas across the dimensions of coordination, programming and financing.

Some of the key lessons learned throughout the past 8 months were presented in a recent webinar on “Improving coherence along the humanitarian-development-peace nexus: Lessons learned from social protection, cash and voucher assistance coordination in Palestine”, organised by the ILO on May 7th, in the framework of the 2024 Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks.  Panellists from across the humanitarian and development nexus spectrum identified challenges and enabling factors which have made it possible for coordination to persist and progress in the context of the unfolding humanitarian crisis.

Before the crisis: Progress on social assistance coordination across the nexus

Since 2021, humanitarian and development actors have been working together to enhance coordination within the Palestinian social assistance system. Because of the protracted crisis in the OPT, humanitarian safety nets have become structural. But they have remained misaligned from the National Cash Transfer Programme (NCTP), causing fragmentation and inefficiency in the national social assistance sector.

This is why nexus actors jointly launched a new coordination mechanism, the Social Protection and Cash and Voucher Assistance Thematic Working Group (SPCVA TWG) in 2022. Co-led by OCHA and the Palestinian Ministry of Social Development,  the Thematic Working Group has progressively enabled constructive dialogue and strengthened reciprocal trust. Partners also created technical workstreams to test and “prototype” small-scale solutions to practical problems (such as data-sharing) that had prevented programme alignment previously.

In the past, there were only few examples of bilateral communication, which were sporadic and ad-hoc. In a meeting held at the Ministry in 2021,  it felt like we were speaking different languages, having different understanding of basic concepts. The creation of the Thematic Working Group addressed these issues, allowing for multi-layered communication, with different people at technical, managerial and political level. To date, this level of buy-in has remained one of the key strengths of this group and one of the key factors for its sustainability. 

Luca Sangalli, National Cash Working Group Coordinator for Palestine.

A challenging new context since 7 October 2023

Since outbreak of war in Gaza on 7 October, humanitarian agencies had to prioritize cash and in-kind assistance to address the spike in humanitarian needs. In the first frantic weeks, communication between humanitarian actors in Gaza and the Ministry of Social Development in the West Bank was slowed down. The emergency brought about additional pressure, besides the existing administrative and logistical bottlenecks caused by the political and geographical divide. The crisis also affected the Ministry’s capacity to intervene and contribute to a rapid emergency response, both with humanitarian partners and with other national agencies. Secondly, it affected humanitarian organizations’ ability to engage with the de-facto authorities in Gaza. Finally, it had implications on the disbursement of funding to the National Cash Transfer Programme in Gaza, due to the tightening of international donor policies.

Nonetheless, the relationships built over the past 2 years have proven stronger than these obstacles. Humanitarian and development actors have maintained dialogue throughout the crisis. Nexus partners have realized that the coordination established can make the emergency response more effective, while reinforcing the state’s role in the provision of social assistance, as demonstrated by the growing number of humanitarian agencies that have expressed willingness to collaborate with the Ministry since October.  Continued dialogue among members of the Thematic Working Group has also enabled progress on policy reform and advanced joint efforts on programme alignment. For example:

• The Ministry and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) are developing a Memorandum of Understanding on alignment of their respective safety net programmes, expected to be finalized by mid-2024. 
• In September 2023, the Palestinian Council of Ministers had adopted the reform of the social assistance system, spearheaded by the Ministry of Social Development with the support of nexus partners. This reform introduced social allowances for persons with severe disabilities and older persons, and expanded the potential eligibility for the National Cash Transfer Programme. In January 2024, the European Union’s Representative Office confirmed its financial support for the reform until mid-2025, starting in the West Bank.  

UNRWA is undertaking a number of reform processes across its social assistance programmes, which have been informed by the discussions within the Thematic Working Group. These include the shift from proxy-means testing to categorical targeting in Gaza, as well as closer alignment to the national safety net programme in the West Bank. 

Sascha Graumann, UNRWA Deputy Director of Relief and Social Services.

Sustaining nexus coherence in times of crisis

1.    Coordination

Despite the looming pressure of the war, both humanitarian and development actors have maintained the coordination established through the Technical Working Group. This has enabled them to reach out to vulnerable people in Gaza and the West Bank more effectively and efficiently.

• The Thematic Working Group resumed its meetings rapidly after a brief pause. At these meeting, partners openly discussed the most effective modalities to jointly support emergency operations. 
• Humanitarian actors have consistently referred to the Ministry of Social Development’s National Social Registry – as well as to the list of displaced households produced by the Ministry’s teams in Gaza – to consolidate their directories of cash assistance beneficiaries. Since October, humanitarian actors have provided cash transfers to almost 185,000 households in Gaza, covering two thirds of the 86,000 listed prior to the war. 
• Humanitarian agencies are moving further ahead by developing cross-checking and deduplication systems to consolidate respective data and engaging with the Ministry to outline a sustainable mechanism for data-sharing. 
• Nexus actors’ investment in relationship-building enabled swift coordination with the Ministry of Labour to provide social assistance to Gazan workers, who were expelled from Israel into the West Bank. Arguably, this would have not been possible few years ago, before actors began working together to build coordination from the bottom up.

Despite progress on coordination, further capacity strengthening is required for the Ministry to perform its leadership role to its full potential. The longstanding and new fiscal, logistic and staffing constraints risk to negatively impact the timely coordination and delivery of humanitarian assistance in Gaza if not resolved.

2. Programming

Prior to the crisis, policy and technical concerns around data-sharing limited progress in programme alignment. After October, the humanitarian imperative has prompted nexus actors to accelerate linkages, adapting cash and voucher programmes to the new context. For example:

• The Ministry, UNRWA and WFP are now closer to reaching the goal of developing a joint triple-strand social safety net. For now, partners have prioritised alignment of their respective cash programmes in the West Bank and achieved remarkable results, which could provide a ‘proof of concept’ for future work in Gaza. 
• Considering the evolving needs of the conflict-affected population, the Ministry of Social Development developed simplified forms for the rapid intake of potential new beneficiary households into the National Social Registry. Development actors have supported these efforts by providing specialized technical expertise on management of information systems.
• The Memorandum of Understanding foreseen between the Ministry and UNRWA addresses harmonization of targeting criteria and benefit levels as well as compatibility issues between the National Social Registry and UNRWA Management Information System. 
• However, despite efforts by partners, important data protection concerns remain. The need to balance timely response and data protection principles is still relevant, with outstanding challenges being faced by both humanitarian agencies and Palestinian authorities.

While programme alignment is gaining pace, there remains a need to strengthen national stakeholders’ leading role in the process, in line with the recommendations of the OECD-DAC Recommendation on the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus.  For instance, the crisis has highlighted the importance of having in place shock-responsive social protection plans and operational protocols to clearly define roles and responsibilities amongst key agencies, both within the Palestinian Authority and among nexus actors. Stronger engagement of the Ministry of Social Development in the coordination of emergency cash assistance would also contribute to strengthen its role across the national social assistance system.  

3. Financing

The past six months have made it clear that nexus coherence requires flexible donor funding, which can swiftly be shifted to either humanitarian or development priorities. Humanitarian and development partners have sustained advocacy with donors on adaptive financial support to address the political and practical challenges of the ongoing crisis. For example:

• Further to Nexus partners’ advocacy, the European Union’s Representative Office officially confirmed exceptional full financing for the National Cash Transfer Programme in January 2024. In addition to providing much-needed financial stability, this pivotal decision will support the effective piloting of the new disability allowance and social pension in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 
• Despite this positive outcome, financing remains a significant challenge for the Palestinian Authority. The national system has the capacity and flexibility to deliver cash transfers in Gaza, but their most significant constraint has been in financing. Whilst humanitarian donors encourage actors to link with the national system, this is not a prerequisite to receiving financing and is not always actively tracked.

Despite these challenges, nexus partners’ joint efforts have paved the way for real progress towards the progressive establishment of a rights-based national social assistance system. Crucially, by offering financial support for the National Cash Transfer Programme and the new social allowances, the European Union has provided a key precondition for humanitarian agencies to effectively align their safety nets with the national programmes. Importantly, this support comes at a time when most international donors are focusing on short-term emergency relief, rather than system-strengthening.

We should think more about the “day after”. The most important thing is to create a comprehensive long-term strategy, addressing the root causes of vulnerability, while optimising cooperation between the government and its partners. Together, we can achieve this result through the Thematic Working Group. 

Manal Abu Ramadan, Director General of Planning and Aid Management for the Ministry of Social Development.

Some lessons learned and reflections on the way forward

Useful lessons can be learned from the experience of nexus actors engaged in strengthening coherence across the Palestinian social assistance system:

1.    No matter the complexity of the crisis, coordination along the humanitarian-development nexus is possible. The relationships built in recent years between humanitarian and development partners and the national authorities set the foundations for continued coordination during the current emergency. The reciprocal trust has made it easier for actors to maintain regular contact, which in turn has contributed to a more effective emergency response.

2.    Despite progress, solid commitment remains crucial to sustain and expand the results achieved in terms of coordination and alignment.  Cooperation amongst nexus actors could still return to the “old ways”, compromising the viability of multi-stakeholder platforms, such as the Thematic Working Group. This risk is particularly high as nexus partners face funding constraints and donor policies might favour short-term and targeted interventions, rather than comprehensive and integrated approaches. Nonetheless, the results achieved in terms of enhanced effectiveness and efficiency of the emergency response through collaborative approaches are indication that they do work and should be sustained.

The importance of partners’ investing in the national system cannot be underplayed, especially in consideration of the recurrent crises. State-building is the ultimate goal of social protection, and the goal that Palestinians have set for themselves. It is on us collectively, to take this challenge on, to ensure more universal, transparent and predictable assistance can be provided to the Palestinian people.

Momin Badarna, ILO National Project Coordinator.

3.    Nexus actors have responded to this crisis by devising innovative solutions to pre-existing challenges. For instance, humanitarian actors operating in Gaza have defined a mechanism for data-sharing and consolidation of beneficiary lists to ensure rapid and comprehensive outreach of households in need. These operational “wins” have effectively accelerated system coordination, as well as programme alignment. To preserve the progress achieved, humanitarian and development actors will need to maintain an “adaptive” management approach by which, while providing immediate assistance to Palestinians in need during the ongoing crisis, they also contribute to strengthening the national social protection system.

The pre-existing operational collaboration with the Ministry, which enabled use of the National Social Registry, has allowed us to implement the cash response rapidly after the events of October 7th. It has been a game changer and ensured that the humanitarian cash transfers we are funding do contribute to a long-term objective.

Claire Mariani, UNICEF Chief of Humanitarian Cash Transfers.

4.    The progress achieved by the Thematic Working Group is significant but requires buy-in from a wider cohort of stakeholders to be expanded and sustained at every level. Nexus partners will need to ensure the inclusion of representative Palestinian civil society organisations within the coordination mechanisms, as well as increased ownership of the process by national authorities. On this basis, the Thematic Working Group has agreed to reach out to organizations specialised in multi-purpose cash assistance, as well as to the Ministries of Labour and Health, both key actors in the emergency response to date.

5.    The provision of technical assistance and capacity development support to national authorities remains extremely important to progressively “institutionalize” the results achieved and ensure their sustainability. In particular, the operational support provided by several agencies to strengthen the IT capacity of the Ministry will prove crucial in the future. Indeed, once fully functional, the National Social Registry can become the backbone of an adaptive national social assistance system, facilitating the rapid expansion and adaptation of social assistance programmes in response to shocks.

Moving forward, a key goal is the firm establishment of the National Social Registry under the leadership of the Ministry of Social Development. By striving towards this objective and building on the ongoing registration efforts, we aim not to create a parallel system but to contribute to the establishment of a viable social protection system in Palestine.

Salah Lahham, WFP National Social Protection, Vulnerability Assessment and Resilience Lead.

6.    The application of a systematic approach to build coordination among nexus actors is a key enabling factor behind the progress achieved. The investment in capacity development and specialised technical assistance to the Thematic Working Group has led to the development of a common vision that all partners can rally around, beside a shared understanding of the actual barriers to coordination. The role played by the National Cash Working Group and the ILO as neutral facilitators of the Technical Working Group has allowed dialogue to persist during these challenging months. Finally, the enhanced understanding that coordination is a “two-way effort” has enabled national authorities and international partners to consistently seek to adapt and adjust to their respective priorities, for the benefit of the constituencies they serve.

The real shift has been the creation of common language and a shared understanding of the problems between humanitarian and development actors, as well as a vision to address them together. This experience shows that nexus alignment in social protection needs to be structured, or it risks remaining a high-level statement of intention. Dialogue in itself is a goal and should be prioritised. 

Luca Pellerano, Senior Social Security Specialist, ILO Regional Office for the Arab State.  

Enhanced coordination and alignment among humanitarian and development partners should remain a priority for effectively strengthening the national social assistance system in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The experience to date indicates that, despite the multiple challenges of a crisis of this magnitude and complexity, the goals of effective emergency response and national system-strengthening are not mutually exclusive, rather they can reinforce each other.  By remaining committed to their shared vision, humanitarian and development partners will be doing more than paying lip service to international commitments for stronger nexus coherence. They will be in fact taking meaningful action to make the Palestinian people’s right to universal social protection a reality.  

This article was prepared by Marialaura Ena, Charis Reid, Momin Badarna (ILO) with contribution by Luca Sangalli (National Cash Working Group Coordinator for Palestine).