Focus areas
ICVA is an internationally distributed, diverse network leveraging the legitimacy of members direct engagement with people in crisis to provide leadership and to inform action at national, regional and the global level.
This requires adaptation, collaboration and re-discovering roles to support the building of local action. ICVA works at country, regional, and global levels to enable and support collaboration, strengthen accountability, social interaction, capacity, understanding and trust.
INGOs, the UN, governments, national and local NGOs and community-based organisations have a shared responsibility to find new ways of increasing the legitimacy of policies and practice through realising local power, agency and participation.
The focus of ICVA’s work at the country and community level is to proactively support building local agency through country-based members and country fora from our regional and global hubs, providing information, encouraging participation, and supporting strategic events
ICVA’s work at the global level is informed and driven by the voices and experience of those closest to and responding to humanitarian crises. Using this approach, ICVA coordinates the main pillars of its work at the global level building on past strengths, complementing local-to-global dynamics by translating and sharing knowledge of global polices towards the regional, national and local level.
The purpose of this Policy is to reinforce ICVA’s longstanding commitment to diversity considerations. Through this Policy, ICVA aims at supporting that persons of concern can enjoy their rights on equal grounds and participate meaningfully in the decisions that affect their lives, families, and communities.
ICVA contributes to various discussions on localization, supports local and national NGOs to participate in various decision-making and coordination structures, and supports building local agency through county-based NGO fora.
Localization is one of the transformation areas in ICVA 2030 strategy in which ICVA focuses on supporting the local actors through influencing the overall humanitarian architecture, and sometimes national architecture, in order to create an enabling environment and inclusive humanitarian leadership. ICVA is dedicated on strengthening the existing capacities of local actors so they can coordinate effectively and take the lead on different collective advocacy actions.
In a summary, ICVA in its approach and interventions focuses on:
Through the partnership with Humanitarian Advisory Group (HAG), ICVA supports the roll out of HAG/PIANGO measuring localization framework tool in three specific contexts: Yemen, Uganda and Cameroon.
ICVA teams in MENA and Africa conducted a series of participatory meetings and workshops about the project and its objectives with selected NGO Fora, UN agencies, and key local actors. The main purpose of the different discussions was to facilitate communications between all the stakeholders on the indicators to be measured and other important aspects in developing a localization baselining in the three selected countries, including how the process would need to be adapted to the various contexts.
The Localization Measurement Framework and Tools will be contextualised by in-country partners during this process providing an approach to measure progress on localization in a holistic way. The framework looks at localization under seven interlinked priority areas: partnerships, leadership, coordination and complementarity, participation (accountability), policy influence and advocacy, capacity, and funding.
This document outlines an approach, including a framework and some tools, that can be used to measure the activity and impact of localised humanitarian action. This framework and set of tools provide a starting point that other humanitarian actors can adapt for their own organisational purposes, during a response or at a country level.
Many different groups have taken initiatives over the past few years to make the international humanitarian ecosystem more inclusive of local and national actors. This webinar explored the following questions:
This webinar explores how governments, private donors and the business community see current opportunities, trends as well as challenges.
A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO MIGRATION ISSUE IN TURKEY
Policy Brief on Social Cohesion, Economic Empowerment, Voluntary Return and Resettlement
This policy brief paper is retrieved from the outcomes of the workshop that brought local organizations in Turkey together with an aim to look for policy recommendations for the refugees and migrants in Turkey
Against the current background of sustaining local responses, ICVA initiated this research aiming at mapping and documenting the extent of effective and meaningful NNGOs engagement in international humanitarian coordination structures. Focusing in specific at MENA region, the research explores NNGOs engagement in Humanitarian Country Teams (HCTs), Country-Based Pooled Fund (CBPF) Advisory Boards, and sector or cluster coordination platforms. The contexts covered are Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, the occupied Palestinian territories, Syria (Damascus and Turkey-based operations as well as the Whole of Syria response), and Yemen. Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative data, this research briefly profiles national leadership within the seven responses across MENA and outlines the state of NNGO engagement across the region.
ICVA and the Humanitarian Leadership Academy have developed this paper to support local, national and international NGOs to ‘unpack’ localization in a constructive manner.
ICVA developed this note to support dialogue on strengthening principled and effective humanitarian action by NGOs during the COVID-19 response, with a focus on reinforcing local and national action wherever possible.
This briefing paper is based on a review of documents as well as ICVA’s participation in ongoing localization-related evaluations, research, working groups, workshops and dialogues.
This guidance note has been developed to support efforts to strengthen the meaningful participation, representation, and leadership of local and national humanitarian actors (L/NAs) within IASC humanitarian coordination structures. It draws on over 100 pieces of research and good practice to provide recommendations on how L/NAs can be an integral part of humanitarian coordination structures. It provides guidance for Humanitarian Coordinators, Humanitarian Country Teams, Cluster and Inter-Cluster Coordination Groups, and other related Task Forces and Working Groups.
The “triple” nexus refers to the interlinkages between humanitarian, development and peace actors. Following the recommendations from the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), the UN’s “new way of working”, Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there has been a lot more reference to the “triple” nexus, and how the humanitarian, development and peace actors are expected to work towards collective outcomes over multiple years.
The 2018 ICVA Annual Conference and the Learning Stream webinars both focused on the Humanitarian, Development and Peace Nexus providing an opportunity for further discussions with actors on this topic.
The Nexus collection: a podcast series for humanitarians. A podcast series by IASC Results group 4.
Listen on Soundcloud a series of podcasts about the nexus.
The Nexus collection: a podcast series for humanitarians. A podcast series by IASC Results group 4.
Listen on Soundcloud a series of podcasts about the nexus.
This series includes webinars on the following topics:
At the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, the UN and World Bank have committed to a “new way of working” that transcends the humanitarian-development divide. This concept has been considered in terms of UN reform and the “triple nexus” – the nexus between humanitarian, development, and – when appropriate – peace. However, many NGOs and partners are yet to grapple with what this means for affected persons and the system as a whole.
This series includes webinars on the following topics:
The research aims to better understand the current stage of the operationalization of the The Humanitarian- Development – Peace Nexus approach in the selected MENA region countries of Iraq, Syria, Syria cross-border from Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Libya. It documents policy changes and situational changes that reflect the NEXUS approach. It also provides good practices and examples to various actors to help them develop guiding tools and strategic thinking around inclusion of NEXUS approaches in strategies, programs, etc.
This report provides a summary of the initiative Mapping good practice in the implementation of humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus approaches carried out by IASC Results Group 4.
It reflects findings across 16 countries, with individual country reports available on the IASC website.
This study contributes to the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) humanitarian financing priorities of improving “aid effectiveness through more effective humanitarian- development funding flows and mechanisms”. It has two goals: to document the extent to which predictable, multi-year flexible financing is available at the programme level; and to understand the extent to which funding matches Collective Outcomes or the financial requirements of interoperable humanitarian and development plans.
Briefing paper
ICVA briefing paper on the “new way of working”
The Nexus collection: a podcast series for humanitarians. A podcast series by IASC Results group 4.
Listen on Soundcloud a series of podcasts about the nexus.
PowerPoint presentations on:
Schedule for the 2022 Regional Humanitarian Partnership Week on 9-14 December 2022 at Rembrandt Hotel and Suites, Sukhumvit soi 18, Bangkok Thailand.
The paper, which has been developed jointly by the Secretariats of the three funds, describes ways to achieve greater impact for beneficiaries by better aligning the use of the CERF, PBF and the SDG Fund while respecting existing mandates.
This Guidance Note is meant to help protection cluster coordinators apply nexus approaches in a practical way by, providing concrete steps and means to address prevalent or longstanding protection issues, risk patterns, trends and chronic vulnerabilities. The guidance calls for a practical, problem-solving approach that seeks opportunities to identify and collaborate with actors beyond the humanitarian sphere to address deep-rooted protection issues
The OECD-DAC recommendations highlight the interconnectedness of humanitarian, development, and peace actions within the Humanitarian, Development, and Peace Nexus (HDPN). The outcomes of a December 2023 dialogue in the region showcased experiences and lessons from various organizations in Yemen, emphasizing strategic approaches, stakeholder capacities, community assessment tools, and the transition from relief to resilience and recovery. These conclusions align with global evidence on HDP Nexus practices, emphasizing the importance of addressing coordination complexity, risk mitigation, financing, local ownership, leadership, and accountability.
Presentations from Sessions of the 2023 Regional Humanitarian Partnership Week, which took place on 11-13 December in Bangkok, Thailand.
Click on the links below to access the presentations.
ICVA is a global network of non-governmental organisations whose mission is to make humanitarian action more principled and effective by working collectively and independently to influence policy and practice.
International Council of Voluntary Agencies
NGO Humanitarian Hub,
La Voie-Creuse 16, 1202, Geneva, Switzerland
Email: secretariat@icvanetwork.org
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