The Flagship Initiative and its Evolution Eighteen months ago, OCHA launched the Flagship Initiative with a clear vision: to shift the drivers of humanitarian assistance, organizing efforts around...
The Flagship Initiative
Introduction
The Flagship Initiative was launched in 2023 to reimagine a sustainable and ethical humanitarian system, one ready to face the new reality of increasingly complex challenges. The movement aims to deliver solutions and build resilience by ensuring the priorities of crisis-affected communities drive humanitarian assistance. Systematically engaging communities by localizing humanitarian decision-making, empowering local partners, and putting community priorities, capacities, risks, and resilience at the heart of humanitarian programming, the initiative seeks to create the space for a more holistic, community-driven, and sustainable humanitarian system.
Overview
The Pilot Countries
Colombia, Niger, the Philippines, and South Sudan were chosen to pilot the initiative. Since mid-2023, these OCHA country teams have engaged stakeholders in the humanitarian system, including donors, governments, partners, and communities, to promote the shift towards a community-centric coordination and response structure. By fostering continuous dialogue, the teams sought to work with communities and effectively capture their priorities, align humanitarian efforts with these priorities, encourage humanitarian leaders to rethink response strategies from the ground up, and sensitize governments and partners to a coordination structure that works directly with communities and a wider set of cross-sectoral actors.
For more information, visit: https://www.unocha.org/flagship-initiative
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