The United Nations (UN) [official website] and the World Bank [official website] announced a partnership [joint statement] on Saturday to build resilience for the most vulnerable of the world. This effort will focus on “reducing poverty, promoting shared prosperity, enhancing food security and sustaining peace in crisis-affected situations.” The partnership builds on collaboration between the two organizations over the last decade and is an update of their common framework [text, PDF] signed in 2008. According to the statement, the renewed framework comes in response to an increase in violent conflicts that have made the world more vulnerable. The UN has estimated [UN News report] that humanitarian assistance will cost $22 billion in 2017, an increase of $9 billion since 2012. The framework is focused on innovative humanitarian aide and will introduce a more data-driven approach. Concrete areas of cooperation include coordinating support in crisis situations, the development of joint analyses and assessments and leveraging existing financing and comparative advantages.

The UN and World Bank are reacting to a spike in violent conflicts around the world. In March the UN called for an immediate ceasefire [JURIST report] in the Yemen war, after over 13,000 civilians have been killed or wounded in the last two years. Also in March, the UN warned of violence [JURIST report] in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting between government and militia groups began almost one year ago. The UN also warned that civilians were being targeted [JURIST report] during the conflict between Libyan National Army and the Benghazi Defence Brigade in Libya in March.