History

The Solutions Alliance was established in 2014, a year that saw the beginning of the most extensive global displacement crisis since World War II. Building upon the experience and lessons from previous initiatives, such as the Brookings Process and the Transitional Solutions Initiative +, the Solutions Alliance was established to mobilise a broader range of stakeholders to work together than was previously possible.

Interest in finding a new approach to displacement can be dated back to the Refugee Aid and Development approach (RAD) in the 1980s. Other initiatives such as the Brooking Process and the Framework for Durable Solutions called for attention to be paid to “transition issues,” or linking humanitarians with development actors. This area of thinking was further strengthened through humanitarian reform and particularly the usage of the term, “Early Recovery,” and the creation of a United Nations (UN) cluster with the specific purpose of linking humanitarian practices to development goals.

The Transitional Solutions Initiative (TSI) and the UN Secretary General’s Policy Committee on Durable Solutions are programmes that have more recently pursued solutions for the displaced. At the Amsterdam Roundtable on Solutions in April 2013, participants reflected on lessons learned from previous initiatives and charted a more strategic and innovative direction for the TSI – eventually transforming into the TSI+, reflecting the coming together of the TSI and the UN Secretary General’s Decision on Durable Solutions into a single discussion forum. After the 2013 Roundtable, follow-up consultations were held in the Geneva-based Friends of the TSI+ meetings.

These follow-up discussions reinforced again the importance of including affected governments in the process and to further support an understanding that wide-ranging partnerships are needed and ought to be embedded in the way displacement is approached. The Government of Denmark committed to host a second Roundtable on Solutions to continue the momentum. UNDP, UNHCR, IRC and the governments of Denmark and Colombia emerged as Co-Chairs of the process to take discussions and plans forward. This second Roundtable culminated in the creation of the Solutions Alliance in April 2014.