“We, IDPs, pray for the end of the conflict and that we’ll be finally able to go back home.”
– An older displaced woman sheltering in southern Shan.
The humanitarian needs set out in this HNRP comprise only one of four pillars of the UN TCF for Myanmar, which aligns critical humanitarian actions with complementary community development and resilience building activities by development and peace actors. These complementary development and resilience building actions are vital to enabling Myanmar to sustainably restore conditions of peace and dignified self-sufficiency over the longer term, as well as to more immediately prevent vulnerable people from sliding into worse humanitarian conditions that are beyond the capacity of the humanitarian community to address. The current growth in humanitarian needs is unsustainable and beyond the realistic scope of humanitarian funding to manage, making the mobilization of complementary development funding critical to arresting the worsening trajectory. The social cohesion and civic space initiatives are also important scaffolding that will support resilient communities that can better cope with the threats being faced. This will also contribute to alleviating factors that contribute to addressing the root causes of the crisis in the longer term.
Shortcomings in the ability of development and peace actors to deliver on the complementary strategic priorities outlined in the TCF will have the most severe impact on already vulnerable and marginalized groups, including women, children, and persons with disabilities, leading to increased humanitarian needs across all sectors. This section outlines the consequences of development underfunding and how each cluster will be forced to adapt its planned response activities.
Humanitarian-Development Collaboration
Education
The Education Cluster enjoys existing strong engagement with development partners through key platforms such as the Education Sector Representative Group and the Education Donor Partners Group. The focus remains on humanitarian activities, an approach that will continue in 2024 but complementary development action and funding are critical.
If complementary TCF strategic priorities (especially SP2) are not adequately supported in 2025, this will lead to heightened vulnerability among affected people and an increased reliance on humanitarian assistance. The number of children in need of access to education services will rise exponentially. The Education Cluster is already struggling with inadequate resources to sufficiently support the current number of people in need, and an increase of the caseload threatens to break down the provision of education with long-term consequences for children whose prospects and economic contribution are affected by every missed year of learning.
Food security
Food security development partners are already integrated within the Cluster coordination mechanisms and strategies at the national and sub-national levels, including through the Agriculture and Rural Development Group, the NGO Forum, and specific technical working groups. Collaboration with development actors is also underway to complement activities in food insecurity, including enhancing access to critical agricultural input markets, provision of agriculture extension services, and the strengthening of agri-food systems and supply chains. Development interventions to improve communities’ access to and capacity to use early warning information, focused on community-based disaster risk reduction (DRR) and anticipatory action, will reduce the impact of climate-related hazards faced by vulnerable households in many parts of the country every year. Bridging this gap will allow longer-term and more impactful assistance to be provided both before and immediately following the initial relief assistance.
If agriculture and livelihood programmes under SP2 in the TCF are not sufficiently funded, essential agricultural services and market systems will be disrupted. Failure to implement SP2 would further disrupt essential services and agricultural support systems, worsening the situation of 229,000 IDPs who could deteriorate from Phase 2 (Stress) to Phase 3 (Crisis), likely increasing the humanitarian caseload. Evidence highlights that sustained TCF investments in local market functionality and agricultural capacity are more cost-effective than repeated emergency interventions, ensuring sustainable food security and reducing long-term humanitarian cost. If support for community resilience programmes under SP3 is limited, this would severely impact local food production capacity. Without these TCF interventions, the humanitarian caseload would increase beyond the 15.2 million people currently facing acute food insecurity.
Health
The Health Cluster is transitioning several activities that have been historically included in the Myanmar HNRP to the TCF, ensuring effective, safe, and people-centred health care. Through the TCF, health actors hope to support the improvement of infrastructure that is essential for the sustainable recovery of affected people from the current health crisis, such as damaged health-care facilities.
If the development sector under the TCF strategic priorities fails to deliver in 2025, humanitarian health needs will intensify. More disease outbreaks will occur as immunization coverage will remain critically low, malaria and dengue prevention efforts will be interrupted, and access to safe drinking water and sanitation will decline or not be available at all. Limited access to reproductive health services, including family planning and care for sexually transmitted infections, will increase the risk of unintended pregnancies and infections, including HIV/AIDS. Maternal and neonatal mortality rates will potentially increase as many women will not have access to safe delivery facilities and trained midwives.
Nutrition
The full spectrum of TCF implementation is crucial to providing preventative malnutrition activities to communities not covered by the humanitarian response, mainly among 'other crisis-affected' communities. The Nutrition Cluster will deepen existing coordination structures between humanitarian and development nutrition actors with combined efforts towards establishing durable solutions, including possible nexus work to enable the continuum of care across humanitarian and development nutrition interventions.
Failure to implement the TCF strategic priorities in 2025 will have significant repercussions, exposing already vulnerable people to a vicious cycle of deprivation and hunger amid worsening humanitarian conditions. This impact could double the current needs of 3 million people, increasing child mortality rates due to life-threatening and preventable conditions. Mortality rates for malnourished and sick children are nearly ten times higher than for healthy children. Furthermore, treating acute malnutrition costs hundreds of dollars in comparison to the cost of prevention. Building resilience is critical to allow communities to withstand shocks from conflict-induced displacement and flooding. The TCF notably serves as an important link for generic nutrition response programmes and extension to livelihood support programmes in urban and peri-urban areas in Yangon, the Central Region, and the Southeast. Strong joint advocacy by nutrition actors will be prioritized to ensure sufficient resourcing to support increasing nutritional action in areas outside the HNRP.
Protection
The Protection Cluster engages and works with development-orientated coordination structures and partners to ensure protection is considered across the nexus, with efforts made to avoid creating parallel systems. Protection activities will be linked to the rights violation referral system and related advocacy when incidents are identified. Where appropriate, transition from emergency humanitarian response to early recovery, and eventually durable solutions for IDPs will be sought with huge need for complementary development investments to make these a reality. Concurrently, development actors can take on long-term approaches to support and solve systemic housing, land and property issues faced by different communities in Myanmar.
If TCF objectives are not met in 2025, efforts to address the protection needs of at-risk communities would be undermined, exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and diminishing resilience to the ongoing conflict. This would further entrench the current humanitarian crisis, disproportionately affecting women, children, and other marginalized groups. Affected people are likely to remain increasingly reliant on external aid, impeding their capacity to recover from future crises and further intensifying cycles of dependency. In the absence of comprehensive initiatives to empower communities, social divisions could worsen, potentially leading to resource conflicts or escalating tensions within communities. Vulnerable groups, including marginalized ethnic minorities, would be at heightened risk of exclusion, leaving them more susceptible to exploitation, trafficking, GBV, and other protection violations. This fragmentation could also fuel dangerous migration, with individuals, especially youth and children, resorting to perilous routes in search of better opportunities abroad.
Shelter/NFI/CCCM
The absence of development funding and action is already imposing substantial pressure on the humanitarian shelter/NFI/CCCM Cluster. Development actors are critical to mainstreaming DRR and resilience-building strategies, empowering affected populations to withstand recurrent climatic disasters, reducing vulnerability, and fostering self-recovery. While underdeveloped in recent years, this DRR work is critical and will be fully coordinated with humanitarian Shelter/NFI/CCCM actors to ensure that activities are aligned, particularly to mainstream preparedness and durable solutions where protracted social cohesion issues exist. Livelihood support from development actors is key to facilitating resettlement, local integration, and overall self-reliance, especially with an inclusive approach encompassing both youth and adults.
If the TCF strategic priorities (particularly SP2 and SP3) are not adequately supported in 2025, the impact on shelter/NFI/CCCM needs will be significant. The lack of development funding will leave many affected populations without resilience-building opportunities, such as DRR and community-based preparedness. This will likely lead to a 15-20 per cent increase in vulnerable populations requiring emergency shelter, NFIs, and CCCM support following predictable events, such as monsoon rains or floods. The absence of adequate development funding will also significantly hamper the effectiveness of the Cluster's initiatives to promote resilience and self-sufficiency among crisis-affected populations, as development programmes are essential not only in preventing more people from sliding into the humanitarian caseload but also fostering long-term stability and self-reliance. Without robust development action, the Cluster’s ability to implement critical initiatives will be severely constrained. This will likely result in a growing number of individuals backsliding into humanitarian needs, further perpetuating a cycle of dependency. Proactive investments in resilience and preparedness can prevent the higher costs associated with emergency humanitarian interventions in the future.
WASH
WASH support is sought from development actors to strengthen several key areas. These include targeted infrastructure investment in WASH facilities in protracted displacement settings, with a focus on locations experiencing population growth; and livelihoods support to reintegrate IDP returnees, especially through income-generating activities and vocational training. Also prioritized for WASH sustainability and eventual self-sufficiency are community-based WASH initiatives, and market enhancement strategies for improved accessibility and affordability of WASH supplies. Collaboration in urban and peri-urban WASH services is a priority, specifically in areas with high urbanization rates. Specific, location-tailored efforts will contribute significantly to addressing WASH challenges and improving the well-being of affected populations.
If the TCF strategic priorities (particularly SP2 and SP3) are not sufficiently supported in 2025, Myanmar’s WASH sector will face a significant increase in humanitarian needs. Without proactive resilience-building efforts, an additional 600,000 people may require urgent WASH services due to a preventable deterioration of the sanitation and water infrastructure in vulnerable areas. SP2, which focuses on resilience-building, is crucial to reduce dependency on emergency interventions by strengthening local water and sanitation infrastructure and systems. Failure to fund these activities will lead to costly, repetitive emergency responses, stretching already strained resources. Similarly, SP3 addresses the integration of protection and access to safe water and sanitation, which is critical for displaced people and vulnerable groups, particularly women and children. Without SP3, protection risks are likely to increase, with more individuals exposed to waterborne diseases and inadequate hygiene.
2025 HNRP Risk Management Guidelines
Risk management is a crucial component in the humanitarian response to crises, particularly in complex environments like Myanmar, where political instability, armed conflict, and climatic disasters significantly impact vulnerable populations. Effective risk management ensures that humanitarian efforts are resilient, resources are optimally utilized, and the safety of both aid workers and affected communities is prioritized.
The humanitarian community in Myanmar undertakes risk management across all parts of the operation. For risk-informed engagement and additional risk mitigation measures, the HCT has developed a range of guiding documents on risk mitigation, sharing, and accountability among stakeholders, including the Myanmar Joint Operating Standards, Myanmar HCT Localization Strategy, and Lessons Learned: Mitigating the Risks of Arrest and Detention of Aid Workers in Myanmar.
To navigate the increasingly difficult access and operational environment, humanitarian partners adhere to the framework for engagement under the Myanmar Joint Operating Standards. Partners will advocate for the affected people to have access to humanitarian services, especially for those most vulnerable and report any violations of any aspect of humanitarian action.
Framework for engagement
In accordance with the norms and principles which guide humanitarian action globally, humanitarian partners working in Myanmar will:
- Call for all parties to the conflict to respect and facilitate humanitarian action, ensure the protection of aid workers, and fulfil their obligations regarding protection of civilians.
- Engage with parties to the conflict and relevant actors for the purpose of securing humanitarian access and meeting the humanitarian needs of affected populations; this engagement must be principled and should never be considered political legitimization, recognition of - or support to - a party of conflict.
- Support local and national responders to effectively deliver aid and improve their capacity for risk mitigation to safely and effectively deliver aid through a strong risk-sharing approach in accordance with humanitarian principles.
- Commit to a unified and coordinated response to new or novel requests from parties to the conflict regarding administrative, information sharing, reporting and other procedures for obtaining access.
- Seek rapid and unimpeded access to all affected people and call on parties to the conflict to refrain from arbitrarily impeding provision of humanitarian aid, including through unpredictable and onerous administrative requirements.
In accordance with the norms and principles which guide humanitarian action globally, humanitarian partners working in Myanmar commit to:
- Select staff, partners, vendors or beneficiaries independently and transparently.
- Protect and promote the safety, security and freedom of humanitarian agencies, their personnel and assets/goods.
- Advocate that humanitarian personnel are not subjected to threat, violence, abduction, harassment or intimidation by parties of the conflict.
- Mitigate against negative impacts of humanitarian action on civilians' security.
- Advocate to conduct humanitarian assessments and identify beneficiaries for assistance based on established needs criteria that account for specific vulnerabilities, including gender, ethnicity and disability.
- Be transparent about intent, criteria and methodologies used to identify beneficiaries, including to parties to the conflict.
- Safeguard and protect beneficiary information in accordance with data protection guidelines.
- Conduct independent monitoring and evaluation activities to ensure that assistance reached the intended beneficiaries and create an environment for beneficiaries to safely provide feedback and participate in the design of humanitarian interventions.
- Advocate for the applicability of international humanitarian law in Myanmar.
- Where applicable, and as mandated under international humanitarian law, deliver medical assistance to all persons based on need; this may include parties to the conflict ‘hors de combat’.
In accordance with the norms and principles which guide humanitarian action globally, humanitarian partners working in Myanmar commit to refuse requests from parties to the conflict to:
- Take control of humanitarian facilities and assets - including warehouse, vehicles, commodities and any other humanitarian assets - or permit armed actors to enter or control access to humanitarian sites, facilities or vehicles.
- Accept military or armed escorts, except in special circumstances and when agreed in advance with clearly defined parameters based on the Inter-Agency Standing Committee guidelines on the use of armed escorts for humanitarian convoys.
- Enable coercive or other unsafe returns, relocations or resettlements of affected people.
- Deliver or hand over humanitarian assistance and/or funds to armed actors or parties to the conflict.
- Submit to programming demands from any party to the conflict based on violence, abduction or intimidation (physical or administrative).
- Limit their assistance based on demographic characteristics, including gender, age, disability and ethnicity.
- Provide personal information identifying beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance to any external actors in exchange for access, nor in instances where it would place the beneficiary at risk of exploitation or harm.
- Share sensitive personal information of staff members, partners and/or vendors. Any request for staff, partner or vendor details for humanitarian notification purposes will be handled in compliance with humanitarian principles and agreements at the HCT level and information will only be shared with the approval of the concerned individuals.
In accordance with the norms and principles which guide humanitarian action globally, humanitarian partners working in Myanmar commit to:
- Coordinate and complement their activities with other humanitarian partners operating in the same locations to share information, lessons learnt, ensure transparency and avoid duplication.
- Support other humanitarian partners in operating in line with the Joint Operating Standards and ensure transparent reporting on access challenges, including on lessons learnt.
- Sensitize donors to adopt a flexible and conflict sensitive approach to enable principled access for humanitarian programming in line with humanitarian principles.
- Select implementing partners (including local NGOs, community-based organizations, and vendors) and staff based on qualifications that humanitarian partners deem necessary to complete their tasks and promote local leadership/ownership.