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Great to see this NYT op-ed today. I am teaching a class on #localization at @ElliottSchoolGW this semester & just finished recording a lecture on #humanitarian financing. @HAI_GW Some thoughts 1/ https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/13/opinion/africa-foreign-aid-philanthropy.html?smid=tw-share
The #Localization agenda was launched in 2016 w/the World Humanitarian Summit & Grand Bargain (GB). Localization means moving funding, decision-making, & capacity directly to the people & places directly in need. It is an agenda designed to transform the system 2/
by shifting power to local/national actors but it is also wrought w/hypocrisy. First, the first responders in ANY humanitarian crisis are ALWAYS local. Second, global orgs like @ICRC have been 'localized' since their inception. Third, even though localization is supposed to 3/
shift power away from global #humanitarian actors, they are still the ones making the decisions about $, resources, & priorities. These critiques have been voiced by @NEAR_Network @DeganAli @arbiebaguios as the article highlights FOR YEARS. 4/
A small grp of donors dominates global funding, their practices, priorities & policies shape how the field works @ocha_fts @newhumanitarian. The GB focused attention on reforming financial tools & practices, particularly like earmarking, sub-contracting, short-term contracts 5/
Innovations in #humanitarian financing have *slowly* moved funding directly to local/national actors but not nearly enough. Multi-sectoral, joint responses; pooled funds; flexible funds & cash assistance have made improvements but still only trickle down to local actors 6/
@UNCERF & @CBPFs pool & pre-position money to provide rapid, flexible funding, increase #participation #accountability & #localization & strengthen coordination. In 2020 CERF allocated >$676M directly to 43 countries, CBPFs allocated 39% of funding directly to local actors 7/
BUT the money still primarily goes to UN agencies and international NGOs, in 2020, despite 39% of @CBPFs funding going to local actors MORE money went to global agencies 
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An impt assessment of @CBPFs by Christian Els for @NRC_Norway shows earmarking & budget revision rules reduce flexibility; disallowing sub-granting improves #localization & flexibility; only 3 donors commit to multi-yr funding, most funding still 12 mos 9/ https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/country-based-pooled-funds-the-ngo-perspective/country-based-pooled-funds---the-ngo-perspective.pdf
So even though pooled funds are a step in the right direction, in practice, donor rules & practices still stymie #localization and they do not work as intended. And while we know *how* to make these work better, politics gets in the way 10/
In general, only a handful of donors support these flexible funding mechanisms, the US is notably absent-why? Some aid agencies do not have the administrative bandwidth to monitor smaller grants to multiple recipients, it's easier to allocate to the UN, a "trusted" partner 11/
or to "trusted" INGO partners w/ the right capacity. It is "risky" to give directly to unknown actors. But how trust, capacity, & risk are assessed are very much informed by paternalistic & racist assumptions--the very structures #localization is meant to challenge & usurp. 12/
Research by Howe et al @FeinsteinIntCen https://fic.tufts.edu/publication-item/perspectives-on-localization-in-the-horn-of-africa/ and @Fr_Grunewald @vdegeoffroy http://www.urd.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/More_than_the_money_-_Full_Report.pdf shows capacities associated w/ local actors such as proximity, language, socio-political understandings are systematically undervalued by global actors 13/
even though these are exactly the capacities shown to produce better outcomes. Instead we talk abt capacity transfer from global N to local actors, the transfer of bureaucratic & mgmt skills, which again reflects & reinforces the hierarchies #localization is meant to disrupt 14/
Donor agencies, esp @USAID @USAIDSavesLives, need to reflect on these assumptions that undergird their decisions on what funding mechanisms to support, how they select & evaluate partners, and how to better support anticipatory, flexible programming 15/
In many ways, #COVID19 provides an opportunity for #localization in that global actors are not mobile, supply chains are disrupted, & donors are dealing w/ their own crises. An early report by @JeremyKonyndyk @PatrickSaez2 @rswrdn however finds 16/ https://www.cgdev.org/blog/humanitarian-financing-failing-covid-19-frontlines
regression towards traditional funding mechanisms, the top 10 donors prioritized funding to UN, a bit to INGOs & barely any to local actors. Students in my #localization class @ElliottSchoolGW will analyze how COVID has affected localization this semester. More from us soon 17/17
Here's a really great example of the innovation that's possible during #COVID19. Cash transfers are not a panacea but they are the best way to move $ quickly & directly to those in need and support local economies https://twitter.com/NPRGoatsandSoda/status/1361310307398918146
