> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.therisk.global/organization/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.therisk.global/organization/governance-in-operation/national-nexus.md).

# National Nexus

National Nexus, the country programme of Nexus Consortiums: the National Desk, the National Model, the National Portfolio, the three participation pillars and the formation pathway. The country holds

**Where this fits.** Governance in operation › national level · Foundry (Model and Portfolio), Universe (missions), Reports (country profiles) · national structures, supported by GCRI · every phase of the programme year · canonical page.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Status.** No national programme is recorded as constituted or active. No country's desk, model or portfolio is shown as operating. The current service level is R0, information and enquiries ([National Nexus](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/)).
{% endhint %}

## In brief

"National Nexus is the complete country programme of Nexus Consortiums: nationally owned, technically supported, comparable across borders." It is built around four parts:

* a coordinating desk;
* a model of the country's systems;
* a portfolio of priorities;
* three participation pillars.

GCRI supplies the technical backbone. "The country holds the agenda, the data and the decisions" ([National Nexus](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/)).

**Boundary.** A National Nexus programme holds no public authority. A national host or lead organization acts under its own agreement with GCRI Canada and never replaces it as contracting party. Decisions of the authorities and execution stay with the relevant government, operator or licensed institution.

## The parts of a national programme

| Part               | What it does                                                                               | Owner                                                                | Page on the site                                                            |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| National Desk      | Coordination, routing, cadence, records and continuity                                     | A nationally accountable organization, named in the formation record | [National Desk](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/desk/)           |
| National Model     | A governed representation of the country's systems, dependencies, evidence and uncertainty | The country                                                          | [National Model](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/model/)         |
| National Portfolio | Linked views of risks, capabilities, innovation, projects, research and handoffs           | The country                                                          | [National Portfolio](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/portfolio/) |
| Formation          | From exploration to a constituted programme, with a formation dossier                      | National counterparts, supported by GCRI                             | [Formation pathway](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/formation/)  |

## Three participation pillars, each with its own member

| Pillar                            | Who is the member                                                                                        | What it does not confer                                                                        | Page                                                |
| --------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| National Nexus Consortium (NNC)   | The institution, through one of five Helix pathways or the Financial Institutions and Regulators pathway | A council seat by membership alone, public authority, or influence over a technical conclusion | [NNC](/organization/governance-in-operation/nnc.md) |
| National Leadership Council (NLC) | The selected individual, in personal capacity                                                            | Office, employment, a board seat or restricted data                                            | [NLC](/organization/governance-in-operation/nlc.md) |
| National Working Groups (NWG)     | Experts, practitioners, students and volunteers, by competence                                           | A professional licence or employment                                                           | [NWG](/organization/governance-in-operation/nwg.md) |

The **National Standards Council** is "the standards function of the National Nexus Consortium". It decides national adoption of the [Nexus Standards](/organization/institutions/nexus-standards.md) and is separate from NLC seats and working groups. See [National Standards Council](/organization/governance-in-operation/national-standards-council.md).

The working groups are made of **Competence Cells**, the atomic units of the NWG fabric, formed at institution, community or agency level; a Competence Cell can serve as one of the six CERTs. See [Competence Cells](/organization/governance-in-operation/nwg.md#competence-cells-the-atomic-units-of-the-nwg-fabric).

Membership of one pillar never confers a place in another. An institution's membership does not give its staff a leadership seat, and a leadership seat does not make the leader's employer a member.

## The National Desk

The desk "routes questions, keeps the cadence, holds the records and gives continuity when people change" ([National Desk](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/desk/)).

| Function | What it covers                                                                                          |
| -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Routing  | Collects material questions, capability gaps and candidate missions, and gives each enquiry a reference |
| Cadence  | Keeps the monthly working-group rhythm and the quarterly evidence cycle on schedule                     |
| Records  | Holds decision logs, participation records and source registers, so others can continue the programme   |

A desk comes into being in four steps:

1. **Exploration.** The Secretariat routes enquiries while no national structure exists.
2. **Formation dossier.** The dossier names the local ownership model and host options.
3. **Constitution.** The accountable organization is recorded, under its own agreement with GCRI Canada.
4. **Operation.** The desk takes up routing, cadence and records.

A desk "claims no public authority and never speaks for a government". It represents a government only where that government has said so in a record. If the host organization changes, the records pass under the rights schedule and privacy notice that apply; they do not leave with the outgoing organization.

## The National Model

The National Model is "a governed representation of a country's systems: what they are, how they depend on each other, what evidence supports each part and how uncertain it is". It is "never presented as a validated causal model or a forecast" ([National Model](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/model/)). It has four layers:

| Layer                         | Content                                                                                                  |
| ----------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Country context               | Institutional structure, geography, population and material economic and service conditions within scope |
| Systems and interdependencies | Water, energy, food, health, biodiversity and infrastructure, and the transmission channels between them |
| Evidence                      | Sources with evidence labels, rights and lineage; missing data shown as missing, never as zero           |
| Uncertainty                   | Ranges, assumptions and sensitivities stated beside each result                                          |

The second layer is the coupled-risk model of the programme, applied to one country. The six sectors and their fifteen relations are set out in [Coupled risk](/organization/model.md). The National Model replaces the teaching values there with the country's own estimates. Three of the twenty Nexus systems support the model, in the [Foundry pillar](/organization/programme/foundry.md): [NXS-GRX](/organization/systems/nxs-grx.md) (canonical data, provenance and risk) for data and evidence, [NXS-DSS](/organization/systems/nxs-dss.md), the decision support system, for scenarios and options, and [NXS-EOP](/organization/systems/nxs-eop.md) (earth observation and digital twins) for earth observation. See [Systems](/organization/systems.md).

Five rules keep the model honest:

1. Each analysis states the systems it couples, the mechanism of transmission and its assumptions.
2. A dependency map is never presented as a validated causal model.
3. Data reported by authorities is kept apart from Nexus estimates, which stay labelled as estimates.
4. Restricted topology and protected community knowledge never appear in public views.
5. The country may decline to share any part of its model.

The model is updated through the quarterly evidence cycle. Earlier versions remain inspectable with their history. Two countries can compare their models only where both agree.

## The National Portfolio

The National Portfolio links a country's priorities ([National Portfolio](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/portfolio/)):

| View                   | Content                                                                              |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Risk portfolio         | Material risks from the National Model, with evidence labels and uncertainty         |
| Capability portfolio   | Institutional, technical and human capability, and the gaps between them             |
| Projects and research  | Projects, research and infrastructure work under way, each with an accountable owner |
| Readiness and handoffs | Items prepared for a competent next owner, with limits stated beside findings        |

An item enters the portfolio on published criteria: materiality and national demand; cross-system dependence and evidence gaps; tractability and capability value; and safeguards, resource feasibility and a competent recipient. The competent National Nexus structures decide what enters.

**Readiness** is decided in four steps: a stated next step, an evidence check, a named competent recipient (a ministry, operator, research body or financial institution), and the recipient's own decision. "Readiness is not approval, bankability or certification." A portfolio entry is not an investment decision. How GRA reads the portfolio for finance is set out in [National portfolios](/organization/finance-readiness/national-portfolios.md).

The country controls what enters the portfolio, who can see each view and what is published. Portfolio movement is designed to appear in the quarterly country editions of [Nexus Reports](/organization/programme/reports.md). The Q4 annual country report carries the National Portfolio chapter.

## Formation

A National Nexus programme forms in stages, "and each stage is a different thing" ([Formation pathway](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/formation/)):

| Stage            | What it means                                | Evidence required                                         |
| ---------------- | -------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| Exploration      | Questions, interest and research coverage    | An enquiry with a reference; a country research profile   |
| In formation     | A formation dossier is being prepared        | Named counterparts and a dossier in progress              |
| Constituted      | Accountable structures and instruments exist | Recorded instruments and a named accountable organization |
| Active programme | Scoped work is under way                     | Agreements, a mandate and records of delivery             |

**The formation dossier** contains:

* the local ownership model and host options;
* the first risk questions, drawn from national demand;
* safeguards, including rights-holder involvement and conflict rules;
* domestic resources and any support sought;
* exit conditions, so the programme can stop cleanly.

**The first outcome** of a country-scoping dialogue is three records the country keeps:

* a scoping note: the question, the counterparts and the authority for each step;
* an authority map: which institutions decide what, so that no step is taken without its holder;
* a first-quarter baseline plan, with a decision on whether to proceed.

Safeguards start at the first step. Rights-holders take part on their own terms, with a knowledge-use schedule and withdrawal conditions. Participants declare interests. No duration is promised, and a country can stop after exploration; a decision not to proceed is recorded with its reasons.

The approach follows the Sendai Framework's call for national and local ownership of disaster risk reduction, with "all-of-society engagement and partnership" (UN General Assembly, 2015). It also follows the UN DPI Safeguards Framework (UN Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology and UNDP, 2024), under which digital public infrastructure must serve the public interest under national control.

## Earlier texts

The earlier doctrine describes a national layer that includes enterprise and project vehicles. It is kept for its reasoning on national ownership and subsidiarity, and is read under the rule that such vehicles are formed, if at all, by competent lawful actors outside the programme ([Lawful handoffs](/organization/finance-readiness/lawful-handoffs.md)):

* [Consortiums model: national](/organization/cooperation/consortiums/model/vi.-national.md)
* [Consortiums model: ownership](/organization/cooperation/consortiums/model/vii.-ownership.md)
* [National Nexus Consortium (definition 2.19)](/organization/organization/architecture/ii.-definitions/xix.-national-nexus-consortium-nnc.md). In this documentation the NNC is the institutional pillar of National Nexus, as the sites define it, and not the whole national layer.

## Sources

* UN General Assembly (2015). *Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030*. A/RES/69/283. [undrr.org](https://www.undrr.org/publication/sendai-framework-disaster-risk-reduction-2015-2030)
* UN Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology and UNDP (2024). *Universal DPI Safeguards Framework*. [dpi-safeguards.org](https://www.dpi-safeguards.org/)
* GCRI: [National Nexus](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/); [National Desk](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/desk/); [National Model](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/model/); [National Portfolio](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/portfolio/); [Formation pathway](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/formation/).
* [Sources library](/organization/reference/sources.md).


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