European Commission Joint Staff Working Document: Integrated Approach to Fragility

On 27^th of May 2026, the European Commission published a new Joint Staff Working Document: Integrated Approach to Fragility as part of the Humanitarian Communication Package (ECHO). 

The document highlights the growing global scale of fragility, noting that around 2 billion people currently live in highly fragile contexts and that over 90% of the world’s extreme poor are expected to live in fragile situations by 2040. It also underlines how conflict, climate change, democratic backsliding, displacement and economic instability increasingly reinforce one another.

The new EU approach promotes stronger coordination across humanitarian, development and peace actions through the “humanitarian-development-peace nexus,” with a focus on resilience, conflict prevention, local ownership and long-term sustainable development. The document also emphasises conflict-sensitive and context-specific responses, stronger partnerships with local actors and civil society and a reinforced Team Europe approach in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

The publication provides important policy orientations for EU institutions, Member States and implementing partners working on governance, resilience, peacebuilding and humanitarian response.