Shifting power in humanitarian action: Lessons from HelpAge International

The development and humanitarian sector needs to move from rhetoric to action in order to shift power, funding, and decision making to communities, HelpAge International CEO Justin Derbyshire has told Devex. Localization became a central part of the humanitarian reform agenda at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, where donors and organizations agreed to allocate 25% of funding to local and national responders by 2020. In reality, just 3.1% of global humanitarian funding went directly to local and national groups that year. “We're not seeing real effective change in how donors expect programs to be managed, how donors support the cost of organizations to effectively deliver them, and also how donors fund local organizations,” Derbyshire said. HelpAge International, a global network of member organizations working to support the needs of older people, is currently transitioning from a traditional, centralized structure to a model where local partners take the lead on decision making and project implementation. In countries that don’t already have civil society organizations focusing on older people, HelpAge is transitioning its country offices into independent, national NGOs. In Pakistan, HelpAge is in the process of registering a new local entity, the Foundation for Ageing and Inclusive Development, or FAID. The shift toward locally led development will enable local organizations to work according to their priorities and share their knowledge, said Syed Moeez Kakakhel, HelpAge’s country director in Pakistan. “It's not only the INGOs who are sharing the knowledge, but the local entities have a lot of experience,” he said. Visit the Hilton Humanitarian Prize laureate series for more perspectives on how organizations can shift power and decision making to communities.