Localisation in an age of funding cuts: First principle or first casualty?

N°34 Localisation in an age of funding cuts: First principle or first casualty?

The focus of this edition is coordinated by Amy Croome, Humanitarian Policy Advisor on Aid Reform and Local Humanitarian Leadership, and Pauline Chetcuti, Head of Humanitarian Advocacy and Campaigns, both at Oxfam International, alongside Boris Martin, the review’s Editor-in-Chief.

Localisation is now accepted as a core principle of effective humanitarian action, and as a reform priority – central to the Grand Bargain and what is called the Humanitarian Reset – and it is becoming increasingly institutionalised within organisations’ strategies, guidance and policies. Yet as the discussions and number of policy products on localisation grow, so too do the questions about the end goal and purpose of localisation.

One key strand has always been about efficiency and cost effectiveness, with a focus on achieving 25% of humanitarian funding flowing directly or via one intermediary (for example a UN agency or INGO) to local actors. While this is a key indicator of systemic change in the humanitarian system – and one that has received a lot of attention amid the drastic funding cuts to the sector – it does not represent the end goal, nor does it tell us much about other changes, for example in equitable partnership practices, sustainability models, or equality between different actors.

If we are to follow aid principles – both humanitarian principles and the principles of aid effectiveness – the end goal of localisation must be to support:

• the existence of state actors who respond inclusively and in a needs-based way to populations in their territories;
• civil society actors who are diverse, connected and able to represent various marginalised groups within society, as well as hold their government and international actors to account on their practices towards people in humanitarian need; and, finally,
• an international humanitarian system that adds value through its expertise and experience in humanitarian response work across the world, in ways that improve outcomes for affected people and do not undermine but rather contribute to the role of local civil society and local government actors.