Local humanitarian action during Covid-19: findings from a diary study

‘Local’ humanitarian organisations based in areas of crisis are the first to respond to disasters, conflicts and displacement. During the Covid-19 pandemic, these actors stepped up again, delivering medical supplies, food and other relief for those directly affected by the virus and its many secondary economic and social impacts, as well as responding to other crises. Despite receiving far less recognition, support and funding than their international counterparts, these actors continued to form the backbone of many humanitarian responses during the pandemic.

This study aimed to identify what changes towards a more local aid model were happening in the context of Covid-19 and, where change was not happening, why this was the case. In order to document and analyse change at different levels, both within institutions or crisis responses, this study used a diary method. This approach enabled the authors to understand and document the dynamic politics of change and policy-making. Thirty-two humanitarian practitioners and policy-makers participated in the diary study. It also draws on data crowdsourced through HPG’s Covid-19 and local humanitarian action mapping tool.

The study found that change is happening, but slowly, since fundamental blockages in the system have not been addressed. While many international actors increasingly adopt localisation policies, in practice they continue to question the capacity of local actors to manage funds adequately, to operate at scale and to uphold humanitarian principles. As a result, there are limited efforts to trial new approaches at scale, take calculated risks and to set in motion new funding approaches.

There were standout examples – where Covid-19-related restrictions effectively ‘forced’ a more localised response – which demonstrated the value of past investment in partnerships and preparedness, effective remote technical support and new space for local leadership. But such approaches have yet to be observed among many of the sector’s largest international actors, including most UN agencies, and progress remains slow and inconsistent across different humanitarian responses.https://bit.ly/CV19LocalHumanitarianAction

Recommendations

To donors:

Develop a clear and ambitious localisation strategy, including establishing incentives to support reform among international partners, in particular UN agencies.
Hold international partners accountable by tracking, monitoring and evaluating the cascading of quality funding, the quality and equity of their partnership practices, and commitments to capacity-sharing.
Hold yourself accountable through direct dialogue with the local actors that you indirectly fund.
Develop a risk-sharing agenda across donors and harmonise due diligence, compliance and audit requirements.

To UN agencies and international NGOs:

Be accountable to the commitments you have made on localisation by establishing transparent mechanisms to track funding flows (in terms of both quantity and quality) to local actors.
Localise coordination through adapting it to context and existing structures.
Redefine your role and identify your added value in supporting existing local capacity, action and leadership in humanitarian responses in order to reinforce and not replace or undermine existing local response mechanisms and resilience.
Recentre your objective on what is best for people affected by crises and not what is best for the survival of your organisation.

To the Grand Bargain process:

Propose an ambitious agenda on localisation based on creating the right incentives for reform and change at the global level.
Be driven by local actors’ voices, experience and realities.

To funders and supporters of locally led approaches:

Support local action and activism outside of the formal system.
Continue reshaping and redefining the conversation on locally led humanitarian responses outside of the formal Grand Bargain process.

To well-established large national organisations:

Critically assess your own power and the power dynamics in your countries to ensure a diversity of local actors can play their role in humanitarian responses, in particular smaller and very localised organisations and those representing people who are often socially excluded, such as those representing women’s rights, people with disabilities, older people, people of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics, as well as refugee-led organisations.