Draft, not yet released. In stewardship review. Not indexed until the first approved release.

Methodology

How the edition was made: methods, the model card, the evidence cut and its age, the acceptance record and the glossary.

13 min read0 figures13 tables13 notesNR-SECTOR-DEVELOPMENT-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE

Contents
  1. ·Edition home
  2. ·Executive summary
  3. 1Need is rising as support contracts
  4. 2Key findings
  5. 3Systems and sectors at baseline
  6. 4Risks and capability
  7. 5Funding contraction, displacement surge and food price shock in a highly indebted fragile economy
  8. 6Readings from the other desks
  9. 7The 2027 agenda
  10. 8Systems in depth
  11. AMethodology
    1. A.1 Methods
    2. A.2 Model card, Development and Humanitarian Sector Model v0
    3. A.3 The baseline evidence cut
    4. A.4 Evidence age and coverage
    5. A.5 Evidence cards, two anchor sources
    6. A.6 Publication acceptance record
    7. A.7 Status words
    8. A.8 How the edition is made, released and corrected
    9. A.9 Glossary and abbreviations
    10. A.10 Technical annex
  12. BData appendix
  13. CReferences and record
  14. ·Complete edition, for print

A.1Methods

The global baseline uses published values and four simple derivations. Each is shown in full so that any reader can reproduce it.

Table A.1Methods
No.DerivationCalculationResult
(1)Change in humanitarian funding reported to FTS, 2024 to 2025(28.28 − 37.12) ÷ 37.12−23.8%
(2)Change in humanitarian funding reported to FTS, 2022 to 2025(28.28 − 43.21) ÷ 43.21−34.6%
(3)People reached against people in need, January to May 202645.2 ÷ 25217.9%
(4)Remittances to low- and middle-income countries against DAC aid, 2025 (different bases)703.6 ÷ 174.3≈4.0 times
Table A.2Coupling strength scale (matrix and model card)
StrengthDefinition
STRONGa disruption in the source system has historically changed the target system’s service or output within one season, in more than one region
MODERATEan effect is documented but buffered or slower
WEAKan effect is plausible but not documented at global scale
Table A.3Status grammar
LabelRule
Reportedvalue as issued by its source, with year
Inferredreasoned from cited evidence; never a measurement
EstimatedNexus analytical value with stated method
Scenarioconditional on stated assumptions
Expert inputstructured editorial judgement awaiting evidence

A.2Model card, Development and Humanitarian Sector Model v0

Model ID
MDL-GS06-DEVELOPMENT · v0.1
Purpose
represent the global development and humanitarian system and its couplings to water, energy, food, health and nature
Family
graph-based system of systems
Inputs
the cited sources of this edition; no proprietary data
Method
expert-specified coupling strengths (STRONG · MODERATE · WEAK) from assessments and analogue events
Validation
none yet, first validation against federation evidence in 2027
Uncertainty
qualitative; strengths are hypotheses, not measurements
Domain of validity
global scale; not for asset-, site- or country-level use
Reproducibility
strength table and sources published in this edition
20couplings

typed in v0

3strong

documented within one season

5moderate

documented, buffered

12weak

plausible, undocumented

A.3The baseline evidence cut

Every Nexus edition is published from a frozen evidence cut. The global baseline cut is documentary: it pins the exact edition of every source cited. Federation cuts begin with the first national Foundry cuts in 2027.

Cut ID
DC-SECTOR-DEVELOPMENT-GLOBAL-2026-B0
Type
baseline documentary cut
Resolution policy
pinned · as of 30 September 2026
Sources pinned
46 cited sources, each at the edition and access date in the references
Model runs
none at baseline, analytical values are stated with their method
Digest
computed at freeze and recorded in the publication record
Supersedes
nothing, first cut of the series
Superseded by
the 2027 development and humanitarian annual cut

Lineage

  1. 01

    source edition

  2. 02

    pinned citation

  3. 03

    finding

  4. 04

    page

  5. 05

    publication record

Table A.4From the baseline cut to the federation cut
ElementBaseline 20262027 global annual
Sourcescited global publications, pinned by editionnational, regional and sector cuts through one graph
Analysisstated methods and editorial estimatestyped analysis specifications
ModelsDevelopment and Humanitarian Sector Model v0 specificationmodel runs with receipts
Findingstwelve baseline findingsfindings re-bound to federation evidence
Reviewfive passes scheduledfive passes on the exact digest

A.4Evidence age and coverage

A 2026 global edition rests on evidence observed in many different years. This page shows each time base, so that no single year label hides older evidence.

Table A.5Evidence age and coverage
IndicatorObservedReleasedCadenceNext release
Humanitarian need2026Mid-Year Review, June 2026annual and mid-yearGHO 2027 in December 2026
Humanitarian funding2025FTS at accesscontinuousmonthly
Aid levels2025 preliminaryApril 2026annualfinal release in December 2026
Displacement2025May to June 2026annual2027
Acute hunger2025 and 2026April and August 2026annual and mid-year2027
Chronic hunger2025July 2026annual2027
Extreme poverty2026 estimate2026annual2027
Multidimensional poverty2025 to 20262026annual2027
Child mortality, immunisation2024October 2026 database updateannual2027
Debt and interest2024 to 20252026annual2027
Table A.6Coverage by system at baseline
SystemCoverageThinnest dimension
Need and responseGOODreach by sector and region
Funding and aidPARTIALfinal 2025 and 2026 figures
DisplacementPARTIALone global basis
HungerGOODcoverage of analysed countries
PovertyGOODpoverty in fragile settings
DebtPARTIALlink to service spending by country
Protection and attacksTHINcasualties among aid and health workers
Local deliveryTHINshare of funds reaching local organisations
Table A.7Designed empty states: what is not bound, what would fill it and why
FieldSource that would fill itBlocker
Humanitarian funding for 2025 and 2026 on a final basisOCHA Financial Tracking Service5; OECD final data8reporting to FTS lags; the 2025 total of USD 28.3 billion is the value at access and may rise
Aid worker deaths, injuries and kidnappings in 2025 and 2026Aid Worker Security Database32the database page was opened but its figures are in a dashboard and a report preview through 2024; the programme interface needs a key issued on request
Attacks on health care in 2025 and 2026WHO Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care31interactive dashboard; no machine-readable extract was retrieved; counts differ by certainty level
UNHCR headline total of forcibly displaced people at the end of 2025UNHCR Global Trends report33the publication pages returned an access error; components were read from the statistics database instead6
Internally displaced people on one global basisUNHCR6 and IDMC7the two series use different scopes; not reconciled in this edition
Civilian deaths in armed conflict worldwide, 2025OHCHR and conflict data programmesnot retrieved; the Global Humanitarian Overview gives context only1
Net aid received by low-income countries after 2023World Bank indicator19; OECD final data8the indicator ends in 2023; later values await the final DAC release
People in extreme poverty inside fragile and conflict-affected settings, as a countWorld Bank poverty platform15; SDG Report9the SDG Report gives shares and a projection only; a count by classification was not retrieved
Cash assistance volumes in 2026OCHA monitoring4the Mid-Year Review says cash assistance fell significantly and gives no total
Share of humanitarian funding reaching local and national organisationsOCHA Financial Tracking Service5no figure retrieved at evidence close
Use of artificial intelligence in humanitarian operations and targetingagency reportsnot published on a common basis; the Global Humanitarian Overview raises the risk only in general terms1
Mineral and extractive links to crisis settingsnot identifiedno consolidated source found for the development and humanitarian reading
Capability rungs beyond response and monitoringagencies, donors and ministriesnot reviewed

A.5Evidence cards, two anchor sources

Issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in June 2026 from country response plan monitoring. Mid-year. Role: binds GOV-001 and GOV-004 and the dashboard figure. Figures move as plans are revised.

EVD-GS06-001

OCHA Mid-Year Review 202634

Issued by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in May 2026 from national and partner data. Annual. Role: binds GOV-005 and the displacement tile. Scope differs from the UNHCR series.

EVD-GS06-002

IDMC Global Report on Internal Displacement 20267

Table A.8Quality dimensions at baseline
DimensionEVD-GS06-001EVD-GS06-002
Completenessplans cover countries with a humanitarian response plan; coverage follows the appealsmodelled where reporting is missing; 104 countries and territories with internal displacement
Timelinessabout 5 months after the periodabout 5 months after the year
Revisionplans revised through the yearannual update with revised earlier years
Method transparencyplanning and monitoring guidance publishedmethodology published
External validationcluster and country team reviewpartner and government data compared

Evidence cards to follow in 2027

  • FTS5: funding by sector and by recipient type
  • OECD final ODA release8: aid by recipient group
  • UNHCR Global Trends33: headline total and definitions
  • AWSD32 and WHO SSA31: 2025 counts of attacks

A.6Publication acceptance record

Editorial self-check at evidence close. Every applicable item carries a disposition; the remaining items are review, approval and deposit.

Table A.9Publication acceptance record
GroupAreaItemsPassN/APending
D1Identity and scope8800
D2Source and data12912
D3Analysis and models12381
D4Findings and claims9801
D5Figures, tables, maps10622
D6Editorial and citations10802
D7Review and approval130013
D8Artefact and design12705
D9Registry and release9009

Publication gate

Conditions met
14 of 23 at evidence close
Blocking problems
none recorded
Open conditions
reviews, approval of the exact digest, deposit, registry pointer

Not applicable at baseline

Model runs
first runs in Q1 2027
Maps
plates in Q2 2027
Waivers
none

A.7Status words

Table A.10The status every value carries
StatusWhat it means
ObservedMeasured directly and published by the source.
ReportedPublished statistics of an official or institutional source.
DeclaredStated by the body concerned; not independently measured.
EstimatedA Nexus estimate from cited evidence, with its method in Annex A.
ModelledProduced by a stated model from cited inputs.
InferredReasoned from cited evidence; not measured.
ForecastA projection by the cited source.
SimulatedA simulation result under stated assumptions.
ScenarioA conditional statement under stated assumptions; never a prediction.
Expert inputExpert judgement, recorded with its basis.
CandidateProposed for a later edition; not yet evidence.
Evidence-quality levels (EQL 1 to 5) grade the source behind a value; they are not a score of the subject.

A.8How the edition is made, released and corrected

Every edition is built from a sealed evidence cut, reviewed under three keys, signed and deposited before any site shows it as published; corrections go to Nexus Standards as change proposals and feed the next cut.

StepWhat happensSource
01 Evidence arrives from the pillarsFoundry seals observations and indicator series, Universe hands over after-action and scenario findings, and contributions are screened at every gateway, including this site’s.
02 The cut is sealedOn the cut date the evidence is pinned under one identifier, so anyone can rebuild the edition from exactly what it was built on.
03 The edition is assembledThe edition is drafted from its template and content pack. Agents may draft; they never publish and never decide.
04 The keys turnAt the publisher of record the truth key comes first: every value is checked against its source or stated method before the meaning and capital keys turn. No edition moves on until every key has been turned by a named steward.
05 The gate opensA named approver releases one exact digest of the edition; any change after this point is a new version, never a silent edit.
06 Signed and depositedThe PDF, the web edition and the data bundle are signed together with a manifest and an RO-Crate description, and deposited on Zenodo with a concept and a version DOI.
07 Published on its desk’s siteOnly then does the edition show as published on its desk’s Reports site, and the Collection lists it as a part.
08 Corrections go to StandardsMethod and correction findings go to Nexus Standards as change proposals; citations, corrections and new contributions feed the next evidence cut.

A teaching model of the process, not a forecast and not a record of any run; dates and counts on this page come from the programme record. Sources: Reports governance at GCRI Canada (2026); Zenodo, repository of record for Reports deposits (2026).

Lifecycle, one state at a time: Draft, Computed, Evidence bound, Reviewed, Approved for release, Published, Corrected, Superseded. This edition is a draft.

A.9Glossary and abbreviations

Table A.11Series terms
TermMeaning
Baseline Editionthe inaugural annual edition that fixes the reference state for the series
WEFH+Bdevelopment and humanitarian, energy, food, health and biodiversity, the national nexus core
Couplinga typed dependency through which one system transmits to another
Protection gapthe share of losses not covered by insurance
Capability ladderLISTED → EXISTS → ADEQUATE → TESTED → DEMONSTRATED
EQLevidence-quality level, 1–5
Evidence cuta frozen resolution of exact sources and versions
NNC · NLC · NWGNational Nexus Consortium · National Leadership Council · National Working Groups
Table A.12Abbreviations used in this edition
AbbreviationExpansion
DACDevelopment Assistance Committee of the OECD
FTSFinancial Tracking Service
GHOGlobal Humanitarian Overview
GRFCGlobal Report on Food Crises
IDMCInternal Displacement Monitoring Centre
IDPinternally displaced person
IPCIntegrated Food Security Phase Classification
LDCleast developed country
MPIMultidimensional Poverty Index
OCHAUnited Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
ODAofficial development assistance
SOFIThe State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World

A.10Technical annex

Table A.13Technical annex
ItemAnnexContentsStatus
A.1Indicator definitionsthe global indicator set, with units and sourcesIN THIS EDITION
A.2Coupling strengthsthe twenty-cell matrix and its rationaleIN THIS EDITION
A.3Scenario specificationSCN-GS06-FND-01 assumptions and signpostsIN THIS EDITION
A.4Capability placementsrung evidence for fifteen functionsIN THIS EDITION
A.5Model diagnosticsfirst runs and validation2027
A.6Sensitivity analysesinfluence of coupling strengths2027
A.7Crisis cardscards for the major displacement and hunger crisesWITH REGIONAL EDITIONS
A.8Review statementspass-by-pass review recordAT RELEASE

A.1 · indicator definition: internal displacement

Construct
number of people living in internal displacement at year end because of conflict, violence or disasters
Unit
people
Method
IDMC compilation of national, agency and partner data
Source
IDMC Global Report on Internal Displacement 20267
Uncertainty
scope and coverage differ from the UNHCR series; some figures are modelled
Known limits
a year-end count; does not show repeated movements or return conditions

Notes

Numbers are the edition’s reference numbers, so a note reads the same in every chapter. The full list, with every source and its licence, is in Annex C. Annex C, references

  1. 5OCHA (ed.), Financial Tracking Service, public API, funding flows by year (2022 to 2025), queried at access; recent years are incomplete. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Geneva. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  2. 8OECD (ed.), Preliminary official development assistance levels in 2025 (data note, April 2026; text read from the European Commission Knowledge for Policy record of the note, the OECD page returned an access error). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  3. 32Humanitarian Outcomes (ed.), Aid Worker Security Database, project page and Figures at a Glance 2025 listing (statistics through 2024 announced; the figures themselves were not extracted). Humanitarian Outcomes, London. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  4. 31WHO (ed.), Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA), method and definitions page; the dashboard counts were not extracted. World Health Organization, Geneva. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  5. 33UNVERIFIED, not opened: UNHCR (ed.), Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2025 (June 2026); the headline total of about 117.8 million was seen only in search-result summaries and is not used as a figure; the publication pages returned an access error. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  6. 6UNHCR (ed.), Refugee Population Statistics Database, public API, global totals 2015 to 2025 (refugees, asylum-seekers, IDPs, returns, stateless people). United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  7. 7IDMC (ed.), Global Report on Internal Displacement 2026 (full report, May 2026). Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Geneva. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  8. 1OCHA (ed.), Global Humanitarian Overview 2026, Trends in crises and needs: a world at breaking point (December 2025; people in urgent need, drivers, famine and Catastrophe counts, civilian fatalities). United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Geneva. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  9. 19DATA VINTAGE AFTER CLOSE: World Bank (ed.), World Development Indicators, DT.ODA.ODAT.CD, net official development assistance received, API, last updated 2026-10-08. World Bank, Washington. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  10. 15DATA VINTAGE AFTER CLOSE: World Bank (ed.), World Development Indicators, SI.POV.DDAY, poverty headcount ratio at USD 3.00 a day (2021 PPP), world, low-income and sub-Saharan Africa groups, API, last updated 2026-10-08. World Bank, Washington. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  11. 9United Nations (UN DESA, ed.), The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026 (full report, PDF). United Nations, New York. Observation year 2025 (data from 2015 to 2026). Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  12. 4OCHA (ed.), Mid-Year Review of the Global Humanitarian Overview 2026, Humanitarians in action in 2026: delivering against the odds (people targeted, prioritised and reached; contributions to end-May 2026). United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Geneva. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
  13. 3OCHA (ed.), Mid-Year Review of the Global Humanitarian Overview 2026, Trends in crises and needs: civilians in the line of fire (June 2026). United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Geneva. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back

Cite this annex

Valadbaygi, S. (Ed.). (2026). Annex A: Methodology. In Global Development and Humanitarian Risk and Resilience Report 2026: Baseline Edition, The State of Development and Humanitarian Action Worldwide. (Baseline Edition 2026, Report No. NR-SECTOR-DEVELOPMENT-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE) [Draft under review]. The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI).

Every citation form of the whole report, BibTeX and RIS included, is on the edition home. Cite this report

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