Interactive Session: As Local As Possible, As International As Necessary: What Does Success Look Like?

Concept Note

Wednesday, 7 December 2022

OVERVIEW:

The concept of localizing humanitarian action is not new. Calls to strengthen local capacities and improve partnerships across the global, regional, and local levels have been made for some time, most prominently at the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit (WHS). The resulting ‘Grand Bargain’ called for commitments from international aid agencies to pass 25 per cent of their funds on to national NGOs by 2020 to support local capacities and thereby ensure that humanitarian assistance becomes more tailored to communities’ specific needs, promotes dignity, and enhances resilience.

Despite long-standing commitments to provide more direct funding to local actors, most humanitarian funding continues to pass through layers of intermediaries and is, therefore, slow to reach the frontlines.
Over the past two years, the overlapping impacts of back-to-back crises, including the war in Ukraine, the rise in climate-related disasters, and the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, have placed a renewed focus on the need to support and reinforce local systems. Local actors, practitioners and communities on the frontlines of emergencies are best positioned, through their knowledge and skills, to address risks and minimize impacts. Therefore, the international humanitarian system must strengthen, invest in and support humanitarian action led by local governments, communities and organizations. However, only a small fraction of financing reaches local levels—for example, a mere 2 per cent in the case of climate adaptation.

Organized as an interactive thematic session, the panel will draw upon examples to explore what success looks like in moving localization from policy to practice and how to successfully anchor humanitarian action in the priorities of local communities. Panellists will discuss the opportunities and ways forward in 2023 for building more strategic, systematic, and sustainable engagement with local frontline actors around a clear vision of accountability, envisaged outcomes, and comparative advantages.

This session is co-organized with the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA).