Decent Work Programming in the Humanitarian, Development and Peace Nexus

The raison d’être of the International Labour Organization when it was established in 1919 was to prevent a return to war and unrest following the First World War. Furthermore, various UN agendas, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG16 in particular), the Sustaining Peace resolutions, and discussions around the Humanitarian-Development Peace Nexus (HDPN) recognize that achieving development outcomes and reducing humanitarian need is dependent upon preventing and transforming violent conflict. One of the pilar of the HDPN is to conduct joint conflict analysis in order to better understand how programmes interact with conflict and how they could address some of the root causes of existing and potential conflict. However, if the link between decent jobs and peace is clear, this does not mean that all ILO programmes are automatically conflict-sensitive and explicitly contribute to social cohesion and peace. Building on knowing that employment, decent work and peace are mutually reinforcing, this training programme allowed participants to apply conflict sensitivity and peace-responsiveness concepts in order to better understanding how their intervention interacts with the context where they operate, avoiding doing harm and promoting social cohesion and sustaining peace in the long term. OBJECTIVES • Gain a better understanding of what is the HDPN and why and how the ILO’s mandate is relevant in this context; • Understand the importance of conflict analysis and sustaining peace as key pillars of the HDPN, as well as the importance of focusing on the “P” of the Nexus and its relation with decent work; • Explain the key concepts and principles underpinning conflict sensitivity along the project/programme cycle as well as the core components of peace and conflict analysis; • Understand how decent work deficits interact with conflict and peace; • Conduct and/or supervise peace and conflict analyses and/or apply conflict sensitivity assessments to identify and manage potential and/or existing the conflict drivers; • Formulate strategies and theories of change to develop initiatives that address the conflict drivers and/or adapt activities and leverage opportunities for building and sustaining peace in the framework of the HDPN. • Put in place an adaptive M&E system to monitor risks, adapt the strategy to conflict sensitive approaches and measure the social cohesion and peacebuilding impact of the project/programmes in order to start building and sharing knowledge. CONTENT Online phase In the first phase, participants explored the ILO’s mandate to promote peace and its role in the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus. Participants also looked at the Theory of Change underpinning ILO efforts in the promotion of employment programmes for peace, and learn more about Recommendation 205. In this phase, participants understood the rationale of conducting peace and conflict analysis and explored practical aspects of the PCA, such as planning, timing purpose, and scope. They also reflected on the role of the ILO in joint conflict analysis. Residential phase The second phase allowed participants to further reflect on the role of decent work across the HDPN, particularly on its deliberate contribution towards peace. It provided a solid grounding in the concept and practice of conflict sensitivity and introduced the three main stages of peace and conflict analysis, the first pillar of the HDPN. Participants also explored how to integrate the outcomes of a PCA into programme design and adaptation and how to elaborate specific outcomes, outputs and activities on decent work (employment, social dialogue, norms and social protection) for peacebuilding. In this phase, external partners from the RC office, the UN Nexus Academy or Interpeace intervened. Participants also applied PCA and conflict sensitivity tools to a case study in order to identify entry points and develop programmatic options to mitigate the risks entailed in working in/on conflict and contribute to peace.