Description
CDA is an action research and advisory organization dedicated to improving the effectiveness and accountability of peacebuilding, development, and humanitarian efforts wherever communities experience conflict.
For more than twenty-five years CDA has worked directly with organizations, institutions, and corporations, driven by two fundamental beliefs:
1) People belong at the center. The knowledge, perspectives, and capacities of people and communities affected by conflict are essential to positive social change and to constructive engagements by international actors.
2) Context matters. Effectiveness depends on a deep understanding of, and will to act responsibly within, complex local dynamics.
Since the foundational work of Do No Harm and local capacities for peace, CDA has been a leading voice in the global movement to shift power in international decision-making closer to the people and communities most impacted. While philosophical and structural challenges have challenged the pace of change, we see this shift happening in every region and the global peace and aid systems. Yet much of the published thinking does not fully reflect who is leading, innovating, and asking the critical questions.
Our Events
Join us on 21 September at 10:00 ET // 15:00 WAT for ConnexUs Thursday Talk: How Can We Effectively Use Evidence in Peacebuilding Project Design? as we explore how evidence can effectively guide the design...
Our Resources
What Constitutes Effective Use of Evidence to Inform Peacebuilding Project Design?
ResourceTheme: Conflict Sensitivity & Integration, Evaluation & Learning, General, Peace & Security, Peacebuilding, Program Design, Program Monitoring
Region: Global
How Can We Effectively Use Evidence in Peacebuilding Project Design? | ConnexUs Thursday Talk Recording
ResourceTheme: Evaluation & Learning, General, Peace & Security, Peacebuilding, Program Design, Program Monitoring
Region: Global
From Do No Harm to Today: Reflections on 25 years of impact
ResourceTheme: Conflict Sensitivity & Integration, Democracy & Governance, General, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, International Development, Peace & Security, Peacebuilding, Program Design, Program Monitoring, Reconciliation
Local Leadership: Is it now or never?
ResourceTheme: Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, International Development, Peacebuilding, Public Health
Region: Global
COVID-19: The Importance of Investing in Local Humanitarian Leadership
ResourceTheme: General, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, Public Health
Region: Global
No Angels, No Devils: A view on ‘localization’ from Cite Soleil
ResourceTheme: General, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
Who is Local?
ResourceTheme: General, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Asia
Power and accountability: Lessons from Nepal about the value of community ownership and devolution of power
ResourceTheme: Democracy & Governance, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming
Region: Asia
Equity and locally led development in times of COVID-19
ResourceTheme: General, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, International Development, Peacebuilding, Public Health
Region: Global
Meeting Complexity with Creativity: 5 themes in unpacking “local” in aid
ResourceTheme: Conflict Sensitivity & Integration, General, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
The quality of a leader: How photography helped me see peers everywhere
ResourceTheme: General, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
“There are no boundaries… there are synergies”: The role of responsible transitions in decolonizing development
ResourceTheme: General, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
Climate Change and Conflict in Ghana
ResourceTheme: Climate Change & Conflict, Conflict Sensitivity & Integration, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Africa
Liberation starts at home
ResourceTheme: Evaluation & Learning, General, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, International Development, Peacebuilding, Program Design, Program Monitoring
Region: Global
From a rectangle to a circle: It’s time to turn the turn tables on aid
ResourceTheme: General, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, International Development, Peacebuilding
Localism as Radical Ethics: What Syrians have taught us about the critical localization of aid
ResourceTheme: Democracy & Governance, International Development, Peace & Security, Peacebuilding, Women, Peace & Security
Region: Middle East & North Africa
Elevating local knowledge for sustainable impact
ResourceTheme: Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, Public Health
Region: Africa
A network of global action starts locally: Scouting in response to a global pandemic
ResourceTheme: Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, Public Health
Region: Africa
Can better programme adaptation, defined by strong community participation and engagement, strengthen our contribution to local ownership?
ResourceTheme: Evaluation & Learning, International Development, Program Design, Program Monitoring, Public Health
Region: Africa
Can better programme adaptation, defined by strong community participation and engagement, strengthen our contribution to local ownership?
ResourceTheme: Evaluation & Learning, International Development, Program Design, Program Monitoring, Public Health
Region: Africa
Exploring the gender lens on Localization: Working on GBV issues in northern Nigeria
ResourceTheme: Human Rights, Public Health, Women, Peace & Security, Youth, Peace & Security
Region: Africa
Can we put the rhetoric into action?
ResourceTheme: Conflict Sensitivity & Integration, General, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
Localisation four years after the Grand Bargain: what is still missing?
ResourcePartnerships in humanitarian action
ResourceTheme: General, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming
Region: Global
Stopping As Success Newsletter – August 2023
ResourceTheme: General, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
Necessary complexity in the Anthropocene: new approaches in socio-ecological systems thinking, Do No Harm, and fragility integration
ResourceTheme: Climate Change & Conflict, Conflict Sensitivity & Integration, Peace & Security, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
What we’ve heard
ResourceTheme: General, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
From where we stand
ResourceTheme: General, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
Can Storytelling Fuel Community-led Development?
ResourceTheme: Evaluation & Learning, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: GlobalNorth America
“What if?” Questions with answers for a paradigm shift in the aid system
ResourceTheme: General, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
If you want to support, vacate the space
ResourceThe Global Standard: Going Global, Acting Local
ResourceTheme: General, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
Why Do I Make the Case for Equitable Partnerships with Local Actors?
ResourceTheme: General, Humanitarian & Emergency Response Programming, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
Sharing the keys to the localization house
ResourceTheme: General, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
Responsible Transitions to Local Ownership: Reflections from the 3D Program for Girls and Women
ResourceTheme: Democracy & Governance, International Development, Peacebuilding, Women, Peace & Security
Region: Asia
Localization – ‘Us vs Them’
ResourceTheme: General, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global
Character Development: The role of aid in building character for civic engagement and national development
ResourceTheme: Democracy & Governance, International Development
Region: Africa
Indigenous Rights and Effective Climate Resilience: A Case Study of the Federally “Terminated” Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe and Effective Management of Climate Vulnerabilities in Northern California, USA
ResourceTheme: Climate Change & Conflict, Peace & Security, Peacebuilding
Region: North America
Donors can do better
ResourceHOW LOCAL IS ‘LOCAL’? A Bottom-Up Perspective of Localization From Narok
ResourceTheme: Conflict Sensitivity & Integration, Democracy & Governance, International Development, Peace & Security, Peacebuilding, Peacebuilding & Urbanization
Region: Africa
All-of-government all-of-society; a view of localization from Narok
ResourceTheme: Conflict Sensitivity & Integration, Democracy & Governance, International Development, Peace & Security, Peacebuilding
Region: Africa
Shifting the Power with Power Footprints
ResourceTheme: General, International Development, Peacebuilding
Region: Global