PARTNERSHIP IN ACTION – UNDP AND UNHCR COOPERATION ON FORCED DISPLACEMENT AND STATELESSNESS MYANMAR In Myanmar, UNDP and UNHCR collaborated in a five-year initiative, the Rakhine Triple Nexus Programme. This aimed to create conducive conditions for refugee voluntary returns from neighbouring Bangladesh, by putting the HDP nexus principles into action and supporting recovery and resilience-based development for the benefit of all communities in Rakhine State. The project built on the experience of a prior area-based programme in Rakhine and past efforts by UNDP, UNHCR and humanitarian actors to support IDPs and host communities. Part of the project was based on a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UNDP, UNHCR and the Government of Myanmar, signed in 2018. This aimed to secure the government’s commitment to work for comprehensive and durable solutions to the displacement of persons in and from Rakhine State and incorporate the recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission. In 2020, COVID-19 caused restrictions countrywide and a suspension of activities. The operational context was again complicated by the military takeover in February 2021, by Cyclone Mocha in 2023 and by an escalation of violence in the last quarter of 2023, which affected Rakhine State. However, joint activities and planning has continued. Other collaboration in Myanmar has included UNDP and UNHCR co-leadership of nexus working groups for different parts of the country. References • • UNHCR, ‘Myanmar: UNHCR Solutions Approach 2023-2024,’ March 2023 UNDP, ‘Rakhine Sate: Bringing together humanitarian, development and peacebuilding activities’ © UNHCR/Dumhpau Hkunring The project and MoU have provided for a process of rapid needs assessments, quick-impact project (QIP) design, technical working group meetings and QIP implementation. As of October 2023, 112 QIPs had been implemented, 74 of them in Rakhine North and 38 in Rakhine Central. QIPs and activities have included interventions to improve access to food and income by providing agricultural and other inputs, revitalising livelihoods, local production and markets, improving access to essential services and developing community systems to promote social cohesion. U N H C R a n d U N D P | PA R T N E R S H I P I N A C T I O N – U N D P A N D U N H C R C O O P E R AT I O N O N F O R C E D D I S P L A C E M E N T A N D S TAT E L E S S N E S S 11