A significant part of Finland’s development cooperation is directed at vulnerable regions, but such crises as climate change, refugee flows and the COVID-19 pandemic and their repercussions affect also the more stable countries of the world. Finland is known as a committed donor of humanitarian assistance and as a country that seeks to strengthen its foreign political influence and its profile in international forums through peace work. The preconditions for an increasingly close and coordinated cooperation are in place and there is a growing practical need for them. The Programme of Prime Minister Marin’s Government states that effective handling of protracted crises requires good coordination between peacebuilding, humanitarian assistance and development cooperation. The Development Policy Committee aims to support the implementation of this entry, and the theme was included in the Committee’s work programme at the request of its members.
The Nexus Group of Experts on development cooperation, humanitarian assistance and peace work nexus started its work in June 2020. The group’s objective is to clarify the nexus thinking approach, which unites different actions and actors, to spread good practices, and to strengthen political ownership. This is to enhance the effectiveness of Finland’s influence and Finland’s capacity to respond especially to the needs of people affected by protracted crises, as well as to strengthen the rights of the most vulnerable people. As a member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), Finland has a legal obligation to do so.
The Group of Experts conducts advocacy around the theme and will issue a publication together with concrete recommendations (December/2020). The recommendations will be given to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Government, Parliament and political parties.
The Development Policy Committee aims to promote the effectiveness of Finland’s development policy and its priorities as well as to raise topical questions for discussion. During this government term, climate and biodiversity form one of the emerging development policy and sustainable development themes to which food security is essentially connected. The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need to understand these interrelationships and to give more emphasis on them in decision-making.
This Group of Experts examines the theme from three angles:
1) biodiversity in Finland’s development policy, 2) The future of food security, and 3) Finland’s climate finance.
The Group conducts advocacy relating to these themes and will issue three publications together with concrete recommendations (December 2020–September 2021). The recommendations will be given to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Government, Parliament and political parties. The material published by the group is available to the whole Committee and wider public and can be downloaded from the website of the Development Policy Committee. These publications on current affairs serve as elements for the preparation of a Report on Finland’s Development Policy 2021.