Reinforce, Reinforce, Reinforce: Localization in the COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response

"More than ever before, local capacities in accessing and engaging communities may become the basis on which complementary action is built."

The International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) has developed this note to support dialogue on strengthening principled and effective humanitarian action by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) during the COVID-19 response, with a focus on reinforcing local (and national) action wherever possible. Humanitarian actors demonstrate a wide range of approaches to localisation (e.g., in how partnerships are structured), but the scale of challenges facing the humanitarian system in light of COVID-19 highlights for ICVA the need for increased consistency and broader agreement on approaches to be used by a wider range of stakeholders.

ICVA explains that the Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP) for COVID-19 details how the international humanitarian community plans to respond to the public health and immediate humanitarian consequences of the pandemic on populations in countries already facing ongoing humanitarian crises. The GHRP highlights the need for stronger partnerships and increased support to national and especially local staff and organisations working in humanitarian responses. However, the plan does not articulate how such support will be delivered. This is what ICVA attempts to offer in this resource.

The note is framed around the 7 areas identified in the Measuring Localization Framework developed by the Humanitarian Advisory Group and the Pacific Island Association of NGOs (PIANGO). In brief:

1. Partnerships - ICVA asserts that, to provide a common starting point, humanitarian stakeholders should renew their commitment to upholding the principles of partnership: equality, transparency, results-oriented approach, responsibility, and complementarity. NGO fora in different countries may be a means to support the development of trust-based and risk-sensitive partnerships. However, new approaches to establishing and maintaining partnerships while working mostly or completely through remote means will be needed.
2. Leadership - Per ICVA, humanitarian leadership at this time must be inclusive and work to support the entire humanitarian community. For example, forms of local community and local government leadership should be recognised and supported, particularly the role of village, camp, or community leaders. Furthermore, various international faith-based networks or confederations have worked on their own approaches to localization. Working with women-led organisations to develop appropriate public messaging and dissemination strategies is another illustration of how humanitarian leaders can ensure vital information reaches more women and marginalised groups.
3. Coordination and Complementarity - An increased reliance on local and national actors should be complemented by an increase in the active engagement of these actors in coordination mechanisms, in ICVA's estimation. Conducting meetings in a virtual space may in fact enable greater participation - for example, from local NGO representatives who are not based in capitals. However, local and national actors will continue to require a wide range of technical, operational, and organisational support for engagement in humanitarian field operations; they should be prepared to call for external support when needed. This may include investment in online capacity sharing approaches and remote guidance and support by international NGO (INGO) experts.
4. Participation - Past experience has shown that health-related humanitarian operations have the potential to be politicised and can lead to mistrust and stigmatisation if not conducted in a manner that is understanding of local context and culture. NGOs working at the local and national level, including those led by refugees and migrants, will often be best placed to understand local community perspectives regarding appropriate roles for national and international partners and to ensure that communities themselves are able to drive humanitarian decision-making and response adaptation. Because inclusivity is the priority, local and national NGOs will need to develop effective communications strategies for engaging older populations, who may find online communication methods challenging. In general, communications need to be clear, concise, and jargon-free and may need to be translated, as many local and national actors do not communicate primarily in English.
5. Policy Influence and Advocacy - INGOs need to engage in advocacy regarding protection of vulnerable populations to ensure that a principled, rights-based, and whole-of-society response is enabled and supported by government policies and practices. ICVA is also working to ensure that the voices of local and national actors are heard in global forums.
6. Capacity - Managing human resource capacity will be a defining challenge for most humanitarian organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditional approaches to capacity strengthening may need to be replaced with on-the-job and remote-assistance approaches that prioritise capacity sharing within networks of local, national, and international actors. There is also a need to ensure that local and national partners are appropriately supplied (e.g., with personal protective equipment, or PPE) and supported to effectively respond while caring for the health, safety, and security of their staff.
7. Funding - ICVA urges that additional funds be mobilised to support the GHRP for COVID-19 and not diverted from ongoing humanitarian operations, and that future humanitarian funding allocations are not compromised by the COVID-19 response. ICVA is supporting NGOs to communicate to donors the role of national and local responders in humanitarian preparedness and response and the need to ensure sufficient, flexible, and continued funding to support these and all NGO actors.

Established in 1962 by a small coalition of refugee- and migration-focused NGOs, ICVA is, as of May 2020, a diverse network of over 100 NGO members operating in 160 countries at global, regional, national, and local levels.

Editor's note: Click here to access ICVA's COVID-19 resources page.