Keynote speakers:
Coree Steadman, ICRC, Senior officer, Localisation, Coordinator of the Grand Bargain Localization workstream on behalf of IFRC as co-convenor
George Ghali, ALEF (Act for Human Rights), Lebanon, Executive Director
Grace G. Ireri, East Africa Humanitarian Programme Co-ordinator, ActionAid / former programme manager of the Shifting the Power project in Kenya
Anthony Nolan, Save the Children Global Education Cluster Coordinator/ Former UNICEF Global Technical Lead, Localisation, Child Protection Area of Responsibility
Veronique Barbelet, Senior Research Fellow and John Bryant, Research Officer, Humanitarian Policy Group/ Overseas Development Institute
With humanitarian needs increasing faster than funds to respond, the international humanitarian aid system is incapable of adequately addressing current humanitarian needs. At the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, a Grand Bargain was negotiated to push changes towards a more effective humanitarian aid architecture. In particular the workstream ”More support and funding tools to national and local responders”, often referred to as the localisation workstream, has increasingly garnered global attention from international NGOs, national and local responders and multi-lateral and bilateral donors. As a result donors are starting to adjust funding mechanisms. However, the global attention has also revealed that there are multiple interpretations of “localisation”, as well as a wide variety of implementation methods, that go well beyond funding objectives. Different approaches range from international NGOs strengthening decision making power and capacity of their country offices to initiatives aimed at transforming power relations between international NGOs and national and local responders.
On this background the event “Localising Humanitarian Responses” unpacks “localisation”, by critically engaging different perceptions of what localisation is and how it can be operationalised. It brings together six experienced practitioners and researchers, who engage with the localisation agenda in various ways and with different points of departure.
This event is a collaboration between ActionAid Denmark, Oxfam IBIS, Save the Children Denmark, Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Danish Grand Bargain Cluster for Strategic Partners and Danish Institute for International Studies, funded by the Globalt Fokus initiative for capacity development/Danida and DIIS.
It is the first in a series of four that seek to better understand localisation and its many manifestations. They aim to challenge assumptions and explore the wealth of experience and knowledge on localizing aid. The events are designed to support humanitarian policy makers, practitioners and researchers to gain from a broader knowledge base and understanding, when working with different approaches to localised humanitarian responses. It is also the first of four DIIS seminars in 2019 about current challenges and approaches in humanitarian practice.
