We Have Taken Another Nice Step For Localization Works in Turkey

This development shows that, our advocacy efforts as STGM that centered on localization are going well. The concept of “localization” was fueled by the World Humanitarian Aid Summit, held in Istanbul in May 2016. At this comprehensive Summit, participants from United Nations agencies, civil society organizations, private sector entities, politicians, and academia talked about principles of localization and aligned for the solution in the context of localization with the "Grand Bargain" agreement, and make commitments.

Turkey Localization Advocacy Group is one of many local and global actors who follow the localization agenda after ‘Grand Bargain’. There is also a global network to ensure effective aid; Network for Empowered Aid Response (NEAR). NEAR empowers local and national CSOs from the different regions of the world to take a positive and active role in the global aid system with localization agenda. Now, with our cooperation established with NEAR by signing Memorandum of Understanding- MoU, we target to;

• Share our experiences with different localization groups through NEAR,
• Follow localization practices in different countries,
• Represent the localization agenda of Turkey at the global level and
• Be the strategic partner of global and local advocacy campaigns to meet the commitments through Grand Bargain.

Following the signing of the MoU, we were invited to the NEAR Influencing Mixer- international good examples conference of NEAR and presented our localization advocacy efforts in Turkey. There were more than 80 local organizations from various countries and we received many congratulations. It is very inspiring that what we do in Turkey inspires local CSOs in other countries. It is also very exciting that what we will do in the future will be represented at global level.