Paper details

Paper authors	Jeremy Shusterman
In panel on	Key Humanitarian Concepts in Historical Perspective
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

Why has bridging the gap between humanitarian and development action been such a long-running endeavour and why have so many frameworks to do so been proposed and picked apart over the years? Rather than contributing yet another approach to ‘mind the gap’ this article seeks to articulate why the idea of a gap came about in the first place, and how to escape from a debate that has grown increasingly circular. To answer these questions, the article uses the history and experience of the United Nations Children’s Fund in working for children across the ‘humanitarian-development’ nexus. Suggesting that the divide is more artefact than fact, derived from the institutionalisation of aid, the article argues that focusing on challenges and concepts that inherently transcend humanitarian-development silos may help better in understanding what it means – and what is needed – to operate at the intersection of humanitarian and development action for children.

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