Local empowerment means supporting the capacities of both local actors (civil society organisations, public/municipal authorities) and affected people and communities. Localization recognises that effectiveness and efficiency in humanitarian aid are possible through a change in power relations. The effective participation of local actors in the decision-making mechanisms for policy and implementation of humanitarian aid can be achieved by transferring more resources to the local level, especially in the financial sphere.
Localization was on the humanitarian aid agenda for the first time at the Humanitarian Aid Summit held in Istanbul in May 2016. At the meeting, which brought together CSOs, UN agencies, academia, public institutions, the private sector and politicians, localization emerged as the most widely accepted solution to improve the current shortcomings of the humanitarian aid system. At the summit, commitments to localization were signed with the 'Grand Bargain' agreement, called 'Büyük Uzlaşma' in Turkish. Subsequently, global and regional networks began to follow these commitments in order to make humanitarian aid more localized and less bureaucratic.
The Grand Bargain pursued the following goals:
- Greater transparency in the humanitarian aid chain,
- Transfer of global funds to local actors,
- Investing in the leadership and capacity of local actors,
- Relaxation of donor rules for access to grants,
- Reducing the burden of reporting,
- Long-term (multi-year) granting of funds,
- Scaling up cash assistance programmes.
To date, 63 institutions, including donors, UN organisations and international CSOs, have signed the compromise.
