FAO at the Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week 2024

The Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week (HNPW) is one of the largest humanitarian forums. It provides a unique opportunity for humanitarian stakeholders to meet and address key humanitarian issues, gathering participants from the UN, NGOs, the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, Member States, the private sector, the military, academia and beyond to discuss and solve common challenges in humanitarian affairs. This year, the HNPW took place from 29 April to 10 May in Geneva, with hybrid modalities. To emphasize the critical role of food security in humanitarian interventions, FAO co-organized and/or actively participated in nine events.

FAO’s participation centred around the topics of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Anticipatory Action (AA), the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus (HDPN), and the Food Security Cluster (FSC).

On the topics of DRR and AA, FAO participated in a session organized by the Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiative (CADRI) partnership, to discuss key achievements in 2023 and the upcoming phase (2024-2030). FAO also presented several AA interventions it has implemented at a session organized by the Anticipatory Action Task Force (AATF) -which includes the Anticipation Hub, FAO, WFP, OCHA, the Start Network, IFRC, and Welthungerhilfe- to mark the launch of the report entitled “Anticipatory Action in 2023: A Global Overview”. In another session on ‘AA as a priority of the Grand Bargain’, featuring a panel of representatives from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), WFP, and the Anticipation Hub, FAO facilitated a discussion on the gaps persisting in coordination of AA and how the Grand Bargain can address them. Two other sessions organized by the members of the AATF discussed the application of AA as part of disaster risk management and the scaling up of AA through strengthened application by development, peace and climate actors and access to pre-arranged finance for AA.

On the topic of HDPN, UNHCR and FAO organized a session under the auspices of the IASC HDP Task Force 4 to discuss the new IASC Guidance Note for Clusters that aims to facilitate the proactive design of responses fostering coherence and complementarity between lifesaving, development, and peace interventions towards collective outcomes. The document notably provides a checklist for clusters to apply a nexus approach in their country-level assessment and analysis, area-based approaches and responses within the framework of the HRP, and cross-sectoral work.

The HDPN was also spotlighted during the session on ‘Partnerships to combat food insecurity’, co-organized by FAO, WFP, the FSC, and World Vision International. Speakers drew from several case studies and good practices highlighting the importance of the Clusters for effective response.