“Grand Bargain Signatories engage with local and national responders in a spirit of partnership and aim to reinforce rather than replace local and national capacities”. The intent of the Grand Bargain was transformational, not decentralisation or multi-nationalisation of International Organisations. However, the loophole in the IASC definition of local and national actors is diverting from the true intent of the GB localisation commitments.
This paper of Alliance for Empowering Partnerships (A4EP) analyses the process of developing the definitions of ‘local and national actors, and with what purpose it was altered. Please click here to read the paper in detail.
Advocacy
Equal partners not only passengers
Alliance for Empowering Partnership (A4EP) is a global network of CSOs to undertake humanitarian advocacy, particularly around the localisation process. HAI is one of the founding members of A4EP. The network is releasing its Position Paper on the Grand Bargain (GB) process. The achievements on the GB commitments have been sporadic and inadequate. This paper intends to challenge the stakeholders for improved delivery on the commitments. The paper can be read here.
The paper has also been published by Relief Web, which could be accessed here.
Communiqué – 3rd annual Charter for Change meeting
The 3rd Annual meet of Charter for Change was held in Oslo on 4-5 December 2018. 34 representatives from signatory organisations and 15 endorsers participated in the meeting. This year’s meeting was significant as it attracted substantial participation of endorsers, and also came up with a roadmap for further enhancing the engagement of the endorsers in the process, and for improved delivery on the commitments. Key outcomes and takeaways of the meeting are summarised in a communiqué which could be read here.
A detailed report of the meeting could be found here.
WASH report of the Pak-Hindu refugee camp, Delhi
HAI team has carried out a detailed assessment on water, sanitation & hygiene (WASH) in the Pak-Hindu refugee camp, Majnu ka Tila, Delhi. The findings present the deplorable condition of the people they live-in. The situation warrants urgent attention and improvement in the living condition. The report could be read in detail here.
A message to the Grand Bargain and C4C signatories
The state of Kerala, India suffered the worst floods in August 2018. This unprecedented scale of the disaster was adequately covered by the national and international media, which helped in attracting national and international actors to join the state government’s efforts on relief, recovery and rehabilitation. Quite a few actors are signatories of Grand Bargain (GB) and/or Charter for Change (C4C).
While we see another mega humanitarian response unfolding, there is a likelihood that the commitments made under the GB and C4C may again get overlooked. We already see many international organisations working directly through their national branches. Only a few are partnering with local organisations. Given that it was felt timely by the Alliance for Empowering Partnership, founded by a few organisations from Asia, Africa and Europe, to issue an appeal to them. Please read here our full Statement on Kerala.
Reinforce Local Systems and Invest in Local Capacities
Together with Action Aid, Christian Aid and Caritas Internationalis, #HAI worked with UN OCHA to analyse approximately 100 self-reports submitted by donor governments, UN agencies, INGOs and other humanitarian actors to prepare a paper ‘Reinforce Local Systems and Invest in Local Capacities’. The paper identifies barriers in better delivery on two core commitments of #AgendaForHumanity, i.e., 1) reinforce, do not replace local and national actors, and 2) invest in local capacities. The paper also comes up with a few recommendations for better delivery on the commitments. Please access the paper here.