Attachments
The Partnership for Peace, Recovery and Resilience (PfPRR), one of the platforms for a Humanitarian, Development and Peace (HDP) nexus in South Sudan, has made progress in rallying field-based operations to integrate a HDP nexus approach. In Rubkona/Bentiu, there is now a coordination mechanism as well as space in which different HDP actors work. There is also increased awareness around the importance of collective strategies and outcomes, as well as appreciation of the need for complementarity across the intervention areas. Over several months of concept generation, a clearer ‘way of working’ has been developed. This has been widely embraced by the field teams of the various agencies that participated in the PfPRR activities, including UN agencies, international and national NGOs (I/NNGOs). The Conflict Sensitivity Resource Facility (CSRF) has served as a critical friend and provided accompaniment to the Bentiu pilot process, through a consultant located in Bentiu for six months. Lessons have been drawn from CSRF’s experience of accompanying the PfPRR stakeholders in Rubkona/Bentiu.
The PfPRR Steering Committee – under instruction of the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG) and comprising UN agency leads and interested donors from the HDP Community – selected Rubkona, Leer and Mayendit Counties in Unity State as one of the three pilot areas to explore the concept and implementation of the HDP nexus in South Sudan. Commonly referred to as the ‘Bentiu Pilot’, these three counties were chosen based on a wide range of factors, primarily because of the high humanitarian needs and food insecurity, which have been further exacerbated by perennial flooding and the most recent influx of people fleeing the Sudan crisis. As a result, there are many opportunities for nexus thinking through the PfPRR framework, and for strengthening linkages across the peace, humanitarian and development interventions in the area. Between November 2022 and June 2023, the first phase of the Bentiu Pilot included deeper engagements by the field-based Task Team (TT), leading up to the development of a concept note.
CSRF worked closely with the Bentiu TT through a consultant between January and June 2023. CSRF played a role of a ‘critical friend’ to the PfPRR process, while also providing accompaniment and mentoring to the TT collectively or as individual agencies. This analysis paper is a result of CSRF’s involvement in the PfPRR Bentiu Pilot. It attempts to draw attention to critical issues associated with the HDP nexus more broadly, using the specific practical experience of the PfPRR process in Rubkona/Bentiu. Specifically, it explores the evolution of the concept of the HDP field; it discusses the opportunities and challenges resulting from the roll out of the PfPRR in this context; and it provides conflict sensitivity considerations.