Efforts to advance the humanitarian–development–peace (HDP) nexus in protracted crises routinely confront political economy barriers. While the HDP agenda aspires to bridge short-term relief, long-term system strengthening, and conflict-sensitive peacebuilding, the realities of protracted crises and organizational mandates often generate incentives that pull actors in opposing directions.

Building on the Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC) research, ODI Global and International Rescue Committee (IRC) co-host this roundtable, exploring how the incentive structures across national governing authorities, donors, implementing agencies, and local civil society shape the implementation of HDP principles in practice and scope of realistic pathways to change - including real shifts towards localisation.

Drawing on empirical evidence from economy studies from contexts including across Bangladesh (Cox’s Bazar), Jordan, Lebanon, Northeast Nigeria, Northwest Syria and South Sudan, the session will create a space to collectively reflect on how competition for increasingly scarce resources and short-term funding horizons lead to parallel operations rather than joint, strategic long-term responses.

Participants will be invited to reflect on how donor risk management, bureaucratic mandates, and reputational incentives can entrench short-term project cycles and certain ways of working, even when alignment is the stated commitment and goal. The conversation also highlights how civil society and community-led providers navigate these dynamics, including circumstances in which they reinforce fragmentation or, alternatively, serve as viable anchors for more coherent and locally legitimate approaches.

By foregrounding the political economy forces that shape behaviour of practitioners, the roundtable invites participants to consider what these dynamics mean in an era of shrinking aid budget. Rather than outlining ideal solutions, the discussion will centre on shared learning and distilling practical insights on how to move forward.