Many local and national voluntary agencies (LNA) around the world face similar challenges:
§ More appreciation from the national authorities for how they contribute to inclusion and wellbeing of people living in their country,
§ More effective support from international actors, based on the recognition that they are part of the long-term capabilities and -solutions of the country.
§ Increasing financial pressure because of the cumulative cuts in Western ODA and sometimes because their governments restrict access to ‘foreign’ funding.
The ongoing conversations about ‘localisation’ and ‘decolonising aid’ have mainly focused on the second challenge: what LNA want to see differently from international aid actors. The competition for who gets what part of the remaining ODA is intensifying. While understandable, this is counterproductive: It leaves the initiative with the international aid establishment, and reduces the ability to have deeper impact through collective action. Being fragmented and divided only further weakens the LNA’s position. That is not easy to turn around, but this brief offers a set of ideas on what they can do to strengthen their current and future position.
Come together with more joint programming but also a sharing of operational infrastructure and in-house expertise.
·Strengthen coalitions and networks and weave a network of networks, avoiding however the dominance of bigger LNA and those based in the capital city. This requires a greater willingness and organisational and individual capabilities to collaborate. Collective leadership can succeed, where there is proactive attention to egos, selfish individual and organisational impulses, and the cultivation of a servant leadership style.
Define and communicate own standards and commitments to transparency and accountability: Such standards can find inspiration in international ones, but must not be a ‘copy paste’ version of those. Most importantly, they must be realistic, recognizable and understandable for others in that society, and strongly owned and defended by its own voluntary associations.
· Strengthen the connections and collaborations with other civil society actors, such as universities, farmer cooperatives, professional associations, chambres of commerce, tourism development bodies, local finance institutions etc. Doing this individually is challenging, as a collective action more options arise.
Collectively address the challenges of financial health: International foundations, country-based pooled funds oriented primarily or exclusively to LNA and/or national foundations acting as grant-dispersing intermediary, are some of the options but maintain dependency on international funding. Inevitably, LNA must find more domestic and regional sources of income. Going it together may make this less difficult than going it alone.
·National/regional centers of excellence and expertise: Too much of the expertise and intellectual capital remains within international aid agencies, whose ad hoc and fragmented ‘capacity-building’ does little to change that situation. National and regional centers of expertise, possibly associated with a university, would be a much more cost-effective approach. Read the brief here.