The increasingly protracted and complex nature of most crises has driven local populations, local organisations and the aid community to a difficult position to save lives and provide resort, while trying to address the root causes of needs, vulnerabilities and risks; and ensuring a long-term, sustainable impact of their interventions. This challenge was the impetus behind the Humanitarian Development Nexus (HDN), which drew endorsement and support from both the humanitarian and development actors via the Grand Bargain, OECD’s Development Assistance Committee, and various other international forums as well organization-specific policies. Moreover, with nine years left until 2030, the necessity of accelerating collaboration among different stakeholders towards realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) becomes all the more important.
WeWorld and ILS LEDA, conscious of these challenges, formed a Research Group to investigate the possibility of integrating two approaches to elaborate the most optimal combination of operational and programming modalities to Integrated Protection and Local Economic Development strategies.
WeWorld has been applying the Community Protection Approach (CPA) since 2013. The CPA is an action-oriented approach and methodology implemented in protracted and complex crises throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) to examine the geographical areas and sectors with the highest protection risks to co-develop Protection Response Plans together with affected population and local constituencies, in order to reduce vulnerabilities and increase capacities of affected population by way of increasing their agency through a specific model of empowerment and engagement.
ILS LEDA has been implementing the REsources for Sustainable COmpetitiveness (RESCO) methodology since 2002, which has hitherto been applied in 13 countries. RESCO is a participatory methodology implemented to identify the value chain, resources and industries that have the greatest competitive advantages in a given territory in terms of economic growth, social inclusion, gender equality, and environmental sustainability, in order to develop comprehensive action plans for local development, through the achievement of sustainable livelihoods.
The Integrated Territorial Approach brought about by the combination of CPA and RESCO aims to provide an evidence-based, in-depth and comprehensive profile of given territories to formulate joined-up multi-stakeholder programming that ensures the safety and dignity of the population, and unlocks the potential for self-reliance, durable solutions and long-term sustainable goals.
