Partnering for Social Cohesion in the Sahel: Lessons for Donors

This policy brief is intended for donors seeking to strengthen humanitarian–development–peace nexus programming by drawing on lessons from SIPRI’s research on the Sahel Resilience Partnership.

The brief argues that donors should fund collective outcomes rather than institutional silos, supporting complementary humanitarian, development and peacebuilding efforts. Effective programming requires multi-level governance, stronger geographic and programmatic convergence, shared data systems and coordinated implementation at community level. The brief also emphasizes mainstreaming social cohesion across sectors such as education, food security, climate adaptation, governance and service delivery, rather than treating them separately.

Key recommendations for donors include a focus on multi-year and flexible funding, complementary partnerships, joint learning systems, conflict-sensitive multisectoral approaches and embedded research. Overall, the paper calls for financing adaptive, evidence-informed programming that enhances resilience through stronger capacities, trusted social relations and increased service legitimacy.