Together We Stand

[ 53 ] ground between academic, policy and development stake- holders. A precondition for this is knowledge-sharing and cooperation across siloes. Funding in this regard is a formi- dable challenge. Against chronic and severe humanitarian needs, policy research is often deprioritized by donors. This is somewhat counter-intuitive; arguably more evidence-based decisions and development innovation is what is needed to set the region on a more positive trajectory. The result, however, is that funding is increasingly project-based and short-term, limiting the scope for think tanks to maintain an independent research agenda. The evidence is that think tanks are most effective at the early stages of policymaking and as outside- the-box thought innovators; both such functions are stifled by project-mandated work. Third, along with outside-the box thinking, we need innovative partnerships to achieve resilience and inclusive peacebuilding. In January 2015, the WANA Institute initi- ated a research collaboration with Professors Paul Collier and Alexander Betts of Oxford University, presenting a case that Jordan’s macroeconomic goals were compatible with an elaboration of refugee working rights. Our argument — controversial and without precedent at the time — was that Jordan could use the refugee presence to develop a manufac- turing base, overcoming the bottlenecks that had trapped the economy in middle-income status. Only through such part- nership — by marrying objective scholarship with regional insight — were we able to overcome the political hurdles needed for this idea to find fruition, manifesting fruitfully and tangibly in the outcomes of the London donor conference in February 2016. The potential of such partnerships is further enshrined in their transformational potential; in this case the research provided an evidence base for an optimal, ‘win-win’ alternative to the status quo: a framework under which refu- gees could benefit from greater autonomy and opportunity, host states could uncover new opportunities to build their economies, and donors could direct funds more effectively and in ways to contribute to heightened resilience. Fourth, the SDGs provide a constructive framework for building resilience, but they need to be coupled and combined with peacebuilding and evidence-based actual interventions on the ground. Global strategies have to be adapted to regional, national and local realities. This is also true for the SDGs; operationalizing them in the region necessitates intelligent and forward-looking thinking from the region. Furthermore, this region needs a new model for governance that provides legiti- mate and effective modalities for inclusive decision-making, which is imperative to take a post-2015 agenda forward. Overcoming the complex humanitarian challenges in WANA requires that every humanitarian actor’s plan of action is founded in the SDGs — especially SDG 16 on justice for all. Fifth, a blind pursuit of stability actually impairs resil- ience. Accepting some disorder and risk — as opposed to the present obsession to constantly minimize it — is, some- what paradoxically, more durable, flexible and conducive to Image: WANA Institute Children on their way to school in Za’atari refugee camp T ogether W e S tand