Before starting a career at the international level, I had worked at the country level and founded the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Global Refugee Initiatives (GRI) in Uganda. GRI is a national organisation according to the Humanitarian Financing Task Team (HFTT) localisation marker definition:
“National NGOs/CSOs operating in the aid recipient country in which they are headquartered, working in multiple subnational regions, and not affiliated to an international NGO.”
Working at the international level has familiarised me with global processes on localisation and the commitments made by donors and international aid organisations, to ensure that national and local actors are placed at the forefront of humanitarian response. These commitments were strengthened under the Grand Bargain, launched at the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in 2016.
Since its launch in 2016, the localisation agenda has increasingly gained momentum as we notice from the recent Grand Bargain Annual Report of 2020. Covid-19 has especially re-affirmed the importance of partnering with and placing local and national actors in leadership of response to crisis. When governments enforced lock-down and movement restrictions within and into countries, local actors were best positioned and continued to serve affected populations.
The localisation agenda is missing key actors
The renewed advocacy for increased civil society space for local actors is also gradually realizing positive results. There are currently more regional and national NGO platforms than there were before the WHS in 2016. In Uganda, the Humanitarian Platform for Local and National Organisations was established in 2018, to bridge the gap between its members and other humanitarian actors – the donors and international aid organisations. Through these platforms, local actors can influence humanitarian policy and practice at both local and international levels. But greater localisation still requires capacity strengthening and engagement of the platforms and their members in global level discussions and decision-making processes to be stepped up.
This blog is part of CDA’s From Where I Stand series, designed to listen to people most affected by aid as they explore and amplify their leadership experiences, stories, and lessons for the aid sector.
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