Call for Submissions: NORRAG Policy Insights "The Triple Nexus at 10: What We’ve Learned and Where We Go From Here."

NORRAG Policy Insights “The Triple Nexus at 10: What We’ve Learned and Where We Go From Here.”

A decade has passed since the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit proposed the importance of the ‘Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus,’ aiming to bridge the divides between these sectors to achieve collective outcomes. The Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus emphasizes the interconnections between humanitarian aid, development, and peacebuilding efforts. It advocates for collaborative approaches to effectively address crises and promote sustainable development, to better serve affected communities. This NORRAG Policy Insights collection seeks to examine how the features of the Nexus can  inform–or have informed–education in emergencies programming:

• Integrated Collaboration: Encourages humanitarian, development, and peace actors to work together towards shared goals, leveraging their unique strengths to reduce needs, risks, and vulnerabilities.
• Local Ownership: Emphasizes the active involvement of local authorities and communities in decision-making processes to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of interventions. 
• Context-Specific Approaches: Recognizes the importance of local leadership in tailoring strategies to local contexts, ensuring that interventions are relevant and responsive to the specific needs of affected populations. 
• Collective Outcomes: Focuses on achieving common objectives over multiple years, aligning efforts across sectors to ensure long-term, sustainable impact. 
• Conflict Sensitivity and Peace Promotion: Ensures  conflict-sensitive practices are at the heart of programming, aiming to mitigate potential harm and contribute to social cohesion and peacebuilding efforts. 
• Flexible and Multi-Year Financing: Advocates for adaptable funding mechanisms that support long-term planning and can adjust to evolving circumstances, facilitating sustained engagement across the nexus. 

Despite numerous initiatives and policy reforms, the practical implementation of the Nexus has encountered significant challenges. Funding silos persist, competition and duplication between actors is rife, coordination among diverse actors can be difficult, and working through fundamental tensions between the three aspects of the Nexus is often a struggle. These issues have been particularly evident in the education sector, where the integration of emergency response, long-term development and peace-building or -preserving remains complex.

To critically assess progress towards nexus-oriented ways of working, to reflect on the implications of current geopolitical complexities, and to chart a future course, we invite contributions for the upcoming edited Policy Insights collection, “The Triple Nexus at 10: What We’ve Learned and Where We Go From Here.” This publication seeks to compile insights, experiences, and research findings that reflect on the past decade of Nexus implementation, with a particular focus on education in emergencies (EiE). We welcome submissions that explore, but are not limited to, the following major themes:

• Education and the Grand Bargain (E.g. localizing and contextualizing global education in emergencies standards and programming)
• From Acute Emergencies to Protracted Crises (E.g. Transitioning from emergency to development approaches and sustaining policy and practice)
• De-siloing, De-centralising, and De-colonizing: The future of education in emergencies 

Within these larger themes, authors may choose to address one or more of the following sub-topics:

• The Evolution of the Nexus Concept: Tracing the origins from the 2016 Summit to current interpretations and applications in education.
  
• Funding Dynamics in the Nexus: Analyzing the extent to which education financing in the Nexus fulfils the goals of being flexible and predictable.
  
• Localisation within the Nexus Framework: Examining opportunities and challenges for genuine local leadership in EiE.
  
• Case Studies of Nexus Implementation: Documenting and analysing instances where integrated approaches have been applied in education settings.
  
• Psychosocial Support and Social and Emotional Learning: Investigating their roles in bridging humanitarian, development and peace objectives.
  
• Teacher Support and Professional Development: Highlighting the importance of teacher training and ongoing support, voice, agency, well-being, and retention in crisis-affected contexts.
  
• Policy and Structural Challenges: Identifying obstacles related to funding mechanisms, coordination bodies, and governmental roles within the Nexus framework.
  
• Achieving SDG4 through the Nexus: Exploring how integrated approaches contribute to ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all.
  

We encourage submissions from scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and those with lived experiences to contribute analysis and forward-looking perspectives on operationalizing the Nexus in education.

Submission Process 

• Please submit your work to norrag.publications@graduateinstitute.ch
• Full drafts of 700-800 words are due 31 May, 2025. 
• Peer review feedback will be provided by 15 June, 2025. 
• Revised manuscripts are due 30 June, 2025. 
• We aim to publish the Policy Insights by November 1, 2026. 

Submissions 

• 7-800 words
• suggestion of an infographic, illustration or figure that would complement your words
• 2-3 bullet points as policy recommendations arising from what you have written 
• a couple of recommendations for further reading
• a two-sentence bio that will be added to the contributors’ list at the end of the publication
• APA style reference list and in-text citations, in addition to  hyperlinks to publications available online  

Policy Insights

NORRAG’s Policy Insights series (inaugurated in 2023) allows experts from academia, policy and practice to effectively communicate their key insights and recommendations to policymakers, stakeholders, and the public in a clear, concise, and actionable manner. As with all our publications, we showcase evidenced contributions from a variety of contexts and perspectives, providing a platform for under-represented experts and demonstrating the range of responses to live debates in policy spaces. This format increases the likelihood that important work can inform decisions, influence policy debates, and drive meaningful change in society.

NORRAG In Brief

NORRAG is the Global Education Centre of the Geneva Graduate Institute and a global network of more than 5,800 members for international policies and cooperation in education and training. NORRAG’s strength lies in addressing under-researched questions of quality and equity in key issues in education and development and in amplifying under-represented expertise, particularly from the South. NORRAG’s core mandate is to co-produce, disseminate and broker critical knowledge and to strengthen capacity for and with the wide range of stakeholders who constitute our network. Our stakeholders from academia, governments, NGOs, international organisations, foundations and the private sector inform and shape education policies and practice at regional, national and international levels. Through our work, NORRAG contributes to creating the conditions for more participatory, evidence-informed decisions that improve equal access to and quality of education and training. NORRAG supports public, private and voluntary sectors and academia worldwide in our common goal to improve equitable and quality education and learning outcomes for the learners and societies that are at the centre of all education policy and practice.