Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks
HNPW 2025 (17 - 28 March 2025)
          


 
Session title: Flexible funding and Coordination: The glue to linking humanitarian assistance with social protection - Trends from the Middle East and North Africa
17 Apr 23 15:00-16:30
 
SessionAbstract

We live in a world of protracted crises and soaring displacement - where assistance is needed to address both short-term and long-term vulnerabilities. Many would argue that the case for linking humanitarian cash with social protection has been made to ensure humanitarian-development partners work more effectively. However, important gaps remain. The new humanitarian cash coordination model includes a commitment for a predictable entry point for linking with social protection. How can this model be operationalized to ensure inclusivity and coherence of interventions across the nexus? Moreover, availability of multi-year flexible funding as a pre-requisite to successful and well-coordinated linkages remains unanswered.


The objective of this session is to advocate for investment in broader and inclusive coordination platforms that can bring together humanitarian, development and government stakeholders using cash as an intervention modality by highlighting operational impacts of the current ad-hoc approach as well as some emerging good practices for coordination in the linkages space based on experiences in the Middle East.

Speakers

Moderator: Pallavi Rai - Senior Advisor, Cash/Social Protection Nexus, IOM

Opening Remarks: Mazen Aboulhasn - Chief of Mission, IOM Kuwait

Panelists:

    • Mireia Termes - CashCap Advisor, Iraq Cash Forum Coordinator
    • Basma Snobar - Programme Manager- Humanitarian, Inclusion and Protection team, FCDO, Jordan
    • Mattia Polvanesi - Senior Social Protection Officer, UNHCR
    • Jane Waite - Head of Social Protection, WFP Regional Bureau for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe (and cochair of taskforce on linking CT and SP of the Issue Based Coalition on Social Protection in the Arab Region/MENA)
    • Anush Bezhanyan -Practice Manager for Social Protection and Jobs in the Middle East and North Africa region, World Bank


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