The United Nations-World Bank Partnership Framework for Crisis-Affected Situations

United Nations-World Bank Partnership in Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations

Over the last two decades,?increasingly complex,?protracted?conflicts and crises have threatened not only global peace and stability, but also sustainable development.?The World Bank, the second largest financier of development operations worldwide, calculates that?by 2030, almost half the world’s poor will be residing in countries affected by fragility,?conflict?or violence?(FCV).?

Recognising the links between?, the Bank has massively scaled up its work in fragile settings in the last five years?and launched its first??(2020-2025)?early 2020.?Following calls by member states to enhance cooperation (A/70/262-S/RES/2282(2016)), the?United Nations and the World Bank Group partner?in?almost 50?countries affected by?FCV?to?address?root causes and?drivers of instability,?changing the way both institutions do business?in challenging settings. This?core shift?towards a greater investment in prevention efforts?in line with the joint report?,?seeks?to?leverage comparative advantages?among?humanitarian, development, peace and security actors, as well as from civil society and the private sector,?to?increase the?resilience of the most vulnerable people, reduce poverty, enhance food security, promote shared prosperity, and sustain peace.?

?

Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

News and updates

REPORT: 2022?UN-WB Partnership Monitoring Report (Feb 2024)

REPORT: 2020 UN-WB Partnership Monitoring Report (Feb 2021)

BLOG: ?(Feb 2021)

REPORT: HDPP Facility 2020 Highlights (Dec 2020)

VIDEO:

Partnership Structures

Recognising that tackling root causes of conflict is a long-term process that requires partnerships between humanitarian, development and peace actors, member states have repeatedly called for a closer partnership between the United?Nations and the World Bank Group,?for example in the?new 2020 twin resolutions on peacebuilding and sustaining peace (A/RES/75/201- S/RES/2558 (2020))?which builds on the earlier 2016 twin resolutions (A/70/262-S/RES/2282(2016)).?

In April 2017,?the?UN Secretary-General and the World Bank Group President signed the?.?This framework highlights a joint commitment to?strengthen coherence, engagement and coordination for?prevention?while?reducing needs, risks, and vulnerability in efforts to leave no one behind. The framework identifies four areas of operational collaboration:?

identify and reduce critical multi-dimensional risks of crisis, and?prevent violent conflict?in relevant countries or regions within the mandate of both?institutions;?

coordinate?support for situations of protracted crisis, including aligning strategies, objectives and collective outcomes, in particular for populations affected by forced displacement, and based on joint analyses and?assessments;?

develop?joint analyses and tools?where the complementarity of mandates may enable more effective solutions; and??

scale up impact, by?leveraging existing financing and comparative advantages, and ensuring that operational policies, frameworks, and tools used by both organizations facilitate cooperation and improve efficiency and complementarity.?

The partnership under this framework is overseen by an?inter-agency ASG-level Steering Committee?which meets twice a year to take stock of and advance thematic and country-level?cooperation at the strategic level.?The?Department of Political and 国产AVbuilding Affairs’?国产AVbuilding Support Office?(PBSO)?serves as Secretariat for the partnership?on the UN side,?interfacing with the??at the World Bank and other Global Practices.?The?World Bank Partnership Advisory Team in PBSO also?leads on coordinating messaging through an interagency working group, involving DCO,?EOSG,?OCHA,?OHCHR,?OROLSI, UNDP, UNICEF,?UN WOMEN and?WFP,?and provides liaison and advisory support to UN field presences.?Knowledge management is a key part of the team’s work. The?team organises peer-to-peer exchanges and?informal?brownbag?lunches to share with UN HQ and field colleagues?the different dimensions of the World Bank Group’s?work?and the partnership, and regularly drafts short lessons learnt?notes to share insights from specific partnership experiences.?

Humanitarian Development 国产AVbuilding and Partnership (HDPP) Facility

In 2019, PBSO launched the Humanitarian-Development-国产AVbuilding and Partnership (HDPP) Facility, a UN instrument which provides small grant financing for UN-World Bank partnership activities in the areas of joint data and analysis, as well as joint frameworks/priorities and seed funding to joint implementation. >

Q: Why do we need a dedicated HDPP Facility?

A: ?Challenges such as transaction costs, lack of knowledge, or simply well-established ways of working in siloes can stand in the way of a more effective partnership. This is where the HDPP Facility comes in - providing short-term, small-scale grants as well as liaison and advisory support in situations where the potential and the need for the partnership are the highest, thus equipping the UN with capacities for strategic cooperation with the World Bank and contributing to better long-term outcomes on the ground. In particular, we help build a shared evidence base and understanding of a context through joint data and analysis initiatives. This upstream investment enables partners to align and better coordinate programming and implementation. The HDPP Facility partners with the , which prioritises financing of activities conducted in collaboration with the UN, reinforcing partnerships with relevant UN entities and pursuing collective outcomes in countries affected by fragility, conflict and violence.

Q: What have you done so far?

A: In 2020, the Facility supported activities in 15 country contexts and three global initiatives ranging from collaboration on a Prevention and 国产AVbuilding Assessment in Burkina Faso, the implementation of collective outcomes in Cameroon, and responding to timely data and analytical needs to inform the socioeconomic response to COVID-19. To learn more, you can find our latest progress and annual reports .

Q: Who is eligible for HDPP Facility support, and for what kind of activities?

A: The HDPP Facility provides small-scale grants (a “main track” for up to US$400,000 over 18 months) to UN Resident Coordinator Offices or their designated entity to scale up partnership capacity or support specific partnership initiatives in countries eligible to the new IDA19 FCV instruments, such as the Prevention and Resilience Allocation, the Turn Around Allocation or the Remaining Engaged in Conflict Allocation. Activities can include undertaking joint data and analysis, or joint strategic planning and implementation. To enhance analytical cooperation with International Financial Institutions (IFIs) in the fast-moving COVID-19 environment, the HDPP Facility also offers short term support (“fast track” for up to US$50,000) in consultancy work-days for situations indicated by UN leadership as a priority prevention context. Finally, the HDPP Facility supports selected policy development at HQ level, enhancing thematic collaboration at the core of the humanitarian, development and peacebuilding nexus. Submissions to the HDPP Facility are reviewed on an ongoing basis, according to funding availability and our selection criteria.

Q: Where can I find more information on the application process?

A: To learn more about how to apply, click here: Guidance for HDPP Facility Applicants

For more information, please contact 笔叠厂翱’蝉 Senior Partnership Advisor, Gillian Sheehan (sheehan@un.org).

Relevant Tools and Resources

Relevant Tools

Title	Description
(RPBA)	A partnership framework supported by the UN, the World Bank and the European Union to coordinate reengagement in countries or regions emerging from conflict or political crisis. Rooted in the tripartite Joint Declaration on Post-Crisis Assessments and Recovery Planning (2008) and previously known as Post-Conflict Needs Assessments (PCNAs), RPBAs offer countries a standardized and internationally-sanctioned approach to identify underlying causes and impacts of conflict and crisis, to assess, plan and prioritize recovery and peacebuilding requirements over time, and to align national and international support with joint priorities.
(PDNA)	The European Union, the UN, and the World Bank have also collaborated on the development of guidelines for PDNA and Disaster Recovery Frameworks (DRF). Both guides are based on good practices and experiences from around the world. They are intended to coalesce international and local support behind a single, government-led post disaster recovery process. UNDP is the UN’s focal point for PDNAs. In 2020, the UN, the World Bank, and the EU have developed joint guidance to conduct which combines elements of RPBAs and the related PDNAs to assess the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, identify recovery needs and develop a conflict-sensitive, comprehensive and costed recovery strategy that the international community can align behind, under a government’s leadership.
? (JDC)	Inaugurated in October 2019, the UNHCR-World Bank JDC aims at enhancing the ability of stakeholders to make timely and evidence-informed decisions that can improve the lives of affected people. For that purpose, it leverages partnerships and innovation in its focus on the collection, analysis, and dissemination of primary microdata that enables policymaking and programming.? Our work program is structured along five themes: Strengthening Data systems, Filling Data Gaps, Filling Data Analysis and Knowledge Gaps, Improving Data Access, and Sharing Knowledge.
(FAM)	The FAM is the very first global mechanism dedicated to preventing future famines, changing the way the system responds from reactive to proactive and faster through prevention, preparedness and early action. It is a cooperation between the UN, World Bank, International Committee of the Red Cross and private actors. For more information, see also this website:
(INFF)	A tool for governments and their partners to finance the SDGs at the national level. The framework analyses all financing sources and non-financial means of implementation available to a country and designs a financing strategy to mobilise resources, manage risks, and achieve sustainable development targets. For more information, see also the .?
(GCFF)	The World Bank GCFF provides development support on concessional terms to middle-income countries impacted by refugee crises across the world. From 2016 to 2020, the GCFF has leveraged almost $5 billion in concessional financing to support refugees and their host communities.

Resources and Guidance

Year	Title	Organisation	Description
2021	2020 UN-World Bank Partnership Monitoring Report>	UN World Bank	The UN-World Bank report on the implementation of the Partnership Framework for Crisis-Affected Situations illustrates how the two organizations work together to confront compounding risks of conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic and its socioeconomic impact in almost 50 countries. Jointly prepared by the DPPA’s 国产AVbuilding Support Office (PBSO) and the World Bank Fragility, Violence and Conflict Group, and based on extensive inputs from across UN and World Bank, the report is testimony to an increasingly meaningful and operational partnership on the ground.
2021		World Bank	This World Bank report sheds light on one of the most intractable challenges faced by development policy makers and practitioners: transforming the economic lives of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. Economic inclusion programs are a bundle of coordinated, multidimensional interventions that support individuals, households, and communities so they can raise their incomes and build their assets. The report examines over 200 programs, across 75 countries and four detailed case studies in Bangladesh, India, Peru, and the Sahel.
2020		OCHA	OCHA’s Global Humanitarian Overview 2021 features a chapter on the Compound Risk Monitor, a tool jointly developed by the World Bank Global Crisis Risk Platform, OCHA, PBSO and the Centre for Disaster Protection. Identifying emerging compounding risks is vital to identifying countries at risk of a deteriorating humanitarian situation and the selection of mitigating interventions. There is compelling evidence that well-targeted early and anticipatory interventions are more dignified, prevent and reduce humanitarian suffering, protect hard-won development gains and contribute to sustaining peace.
2020	?	CGD, NYU CIC	This joint New York University Center on International Cooperation - Center for Global Development note provides a set of recommendations with a view to strengthening strategic and policy collaboration across the three institutions in fragile and conflict prevention situations. These recommendations are based upon a policy dialogue in November 2019 between the three institutions, and a series of four country-focused dialogues in May and June 2020 between UN, World Bank, and IMF representatives.
2020		World Bank	The World Bank Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) enables the World Bank and Borrowers to better manage environmental and social risks of projects and to improve development outcomes. It was launched on October 1, 2018 and has undergone an implementation update in October 2020.
2020		World Bank	This World Bank report outlines an organising framework for the design and implementation of Adaptive social protection (ASP), providing insights into the ways in which social protection systems can be made more capable of building household resilience. Through the provision of transfers and services directly to poor and vulnerable households, ASP supports their capacity to prepare for, cope with, and adapt to the large, covariate shocks, such as natural disasters, economic crises, pandemics, conflict, and forced displacement, they face—before, during, and after these shocks occur.
2020		UNHCR, World Bank	This UNHCR-World Bank research paper tests the performance of cross-survey imputation methods to estimate poverty for a sample of refugees in Chad, by combining United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees survey and administrative data. Household consumption surveys do not typically cover refugee populations, and poverty estimates for refugees are rare. The method outperforms common targeting methods, such as proxy means tests and the targeting method currently used by humanitarian organizations in Chad. See also this .
2020		World Bank	The objective of the FCV Strategy is to enhance the World Bank Group’s effectiveness to support countries in addressing the drivers and impacts of FCV and strengthening their resilience, especially for the most vulnerable and marginalized populations.
2020		World Bank	This World Bank report finds that by 2030, up to two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor will live in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Bucking the overall trend of a global decrease in extreme poverty, these countries are seeing sharp increases, threatening decades of progress in the fight against poverty. Fragile and conflict-affected situations take a huge toll on human capital, creating vicious cycles that lower people’s lifetime productivity and earnings and reduce socioeconomic mobility.
2020		UNDP	This UNDP study assesses the relationships between foreign direct investment (FDI), growth, natural resources, and UN peacekeeping operations (PKOs) in fragile and conflict-affected countries (FCAs). An unbalanced panel-dataset on conflict and peacekeeping covering 127 countries from 1989-2018 was created to estimate how FDI and growth are associated with periods of peace, conflict, and post-conflict, including the significance of having a PKO in the last.
2019		UN World Bank	The goal of this joint UN-World Bank report is to give a brief status of yearly progress made on the United Nations World Bank Partnership Framework for Crisis Affected Situations. The report includes details of progress, joint actions and collective UN/WB engagements in all relevant areas and countries, featuring examples of collaboration in some 50 countries to showcase how the UN and WB achieve critical impact by using their comparative advantages and diversified approaches across the full spectrum of fragility, conflict, and crisis situations. Countries covered in the report include conflict-affected situations, but also countries dealing with spill-overs and conflict externalities.
2018		UN World Bank	This United Nations-World Bank Group flagship report argues for international attention to be urgently refocused on inclusive, sustained and targeted prevention efforts.
2017		UN World Bank	This UN-World Bank report provides governments and donor partners with an overview of the main priorities and actions needed to re-establish core government functions in the immediate aftermath of conflict.
2017		UN World Bank	This UN-World Bank publication highlights political, economic, security, and military motivations for a defence sector Public Expenditure Review (PER) through various case studies.
2017	?	UNHCR World Bank	This UNHCR-World Bank report depicts the reality of forced displacement as a developing world crisis with implications for sustainable growth. To help the displaced and host communities in developing countries, the report underscores the importance of humanitarian and development communities working together throughout crisis.
2016		ILO PBSO UNDP World Bank	This joint statement of ILO, PBSO, UNDP and the World Bank establishes an analytical framework for how to design employment programmes that foster peace and stability in conflict-affected countries.
2015		UN World Bank	This resource note aims to help UN staff better understand the World Bank Group and cooperate more effectively in fragile and conflict-affected situations.
2015		UN World Bank	This resource note is intended to help World Bank staff better understand their UN partners and cooperate more effectively in fragile and conflict-affected situations.