Learning from the Flagship Initiative

The Flagship Initiative was launched in 2023 as a three-year learning initiative to redesign humanitarian action from the ground up. In the four pilot countries of Colombia, Niger, the Philippines and South Sudan, it tested ways to shift the drivers of humanitarian action, organizing assistance around the priorities of crisis-affected communities rather than the priorities of aid providers.

Collectively, the four pilot countries and later Somalia developed practices that can guide a new approach to humanitarian action, one which:

• Systematically engages with communities
• Coordinates around their priorities at a decentralized, sub-national level, and
• Finances a coalition of partners to deliver community priorities

“We want to move towards a community-centered, nationally-led humanitarian system that builds on existing capacities and reduces over time the need for humanitarian support and funding” – Mireia Villar Forner, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Colombia