Blog by Abbe Stanislas, Caritas Kindu, and Howard Mollett, CAFOD

This week sees a range of governments, international financial institutions, private sector, science and tech and other stakeholders participate at the ‘Global Partnership Conference’, co-hosted by the UK, South Africa, philanthropies and development finance institutions. Several national NGO endorsers and INGO signatories of Charter4Change will be present, alongside other local civil society leaders. What is the Global Partnership Conference? And what messages will we bring to donors, international agencies and others there?

A first important point to make is that this Conference has come about because British ministers – including the UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper – have made “modern partnership” a political priority.  That is in itself potentially important. Ten years ago, at the World Humanitarian Summit, when the Grand Bargain localisation commitments launched, there was interest from some humanitarian leaders, but it is fair to say that localization was a side-show, not the priority. Securing a shift – whether by INGOs like the C4C signatories, or by donors – requires leadership commitment. So it’s good to see Government ministers making partnership a priority. The question then becomes: How are they doing this and what will it achieve?

So what is being tabled at the Global Partnership Conference? In terms of conference outcomes, the FCDO has negotiated a conference “Compact” which commits its signatories to act on “equitable and diverse partnerships that deliver results.” Reference is made to the transfer of power: “so that countries, communities and local actors take the lead, with partnerships supporting and not replacing local systems and leaders, and decision-making and resources closer to those who are best placed to deliver results.” It also states: “Partnerships must be transparent, accountable, open to learning and based on mutual benefit, linking global commitments, finance and innovation to results at the national level.”

Perhaps more important than the Compact document are the conversations that will happen and the action that follows. For example, one of the sessions, organized by CAFOD with local partners, is titled “Expanding Local Leadership in Crisis Response.” This will create a space for local leaders from DRC, Sudan, South Sudan, Myanmar to share their views on how financing and partnership approaches can better centre local leadership with donors, including FCDO, Switzerland, philanthropies and others. As part of the session, participants will be encouraged to come forward with their commitments to act or invest in support of local actor led funding mechanisms or consortia towards the Grand Bargain Annual Meeting later this year. This way, we hope the session can build wider momentum in support of transformative change.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Maniema province, the collaboration between Caritas Kindu, a local faith-based organisation, CAFOD, a UK-based international NGO, and Start Network clearly illustrates both the promise and the limitations of current approaches to localisation. In the context of a province that is landlocked and almost forgotten by the major technical and financial players, marked by recurrent conflict and the limited state capacity, anticipatory action has not until now had the support it deserves. Despite dozens of humanitarian interventions, very few focused on action before disasters struck – leaving communities exposed to preventable losses.

Thanks to a locally-led initiative, this is starting to change. Working closely with communities, government agencies, academic institutions, and technical experts, the partners co-developed an anticipatory action tool that integrates scientific prediction with community knowledge. A participatory approach based on the five human senses — what people see, hear, smell, smell and taste before floods — has allowed communities to identify early warning signs rooted in lived experience. This has strengthened early warning systems and, above all, confidence. As one community leader reflected, for the first time, people felt prepared rather than reactive in the face of danger.

This experience underscores a crucial lesson for the Global Partnership Conference: localization is not primarily a technical agenda, but a matter of power and partnership. Local communities and organizations are not just implementers — they are leaders, innovators, and first responders. Effective humanitarian action depends on acknowledging this and investing accordingly.

However, such examples remain the exception rather than the norm. The majority of funding from FCDO and other major donors continues to flow to large international agencies, often entrenching short-term transactional relationships with local actors rather than fostering a true partnership. The Start Network itself, which part-funded the example of anticipatory action mentioned above, has also recognised that it can do more and better to centre local leadership. For example, each of its Start hubs at country-level are at different stages and have adopted different models for involving local NGOs in their governance.

Similarly, in an era of aid cuts and hyper-prioritization of remaining humanitarian funds, funding for anticipatory action is increasingly at risk. The Global Partnership Conference will bring together development actors, climate finance, the private sector, and others who in principle could be funding anticipatory action, but they often struggle to engage effectively in fragile and conflict-affected states. Likewise, these actors also often struggle to engage with local actors, as their default is to partner with international agencies and the host government.

Another challenge in Maniema – as a consequence of the aid cuts and decisions on prioritisation under the Humanitarian Reset – is that OCHA has now withdrawn from the province. Local organisations, such as Caritas Kindu, have been invited to take over humanitarian coordination at the provincial level as the so-called ‘Humanitarian Relais’. But until now, there is a lack of clarity about how this will work or how they will be supported to take on this role.

The Global Partnership Conference, and similar processes by other donors – such as the the German government’s North-South Commission, and a policy dialogue led by NORAD – offer a space in which local actors can share their insights and, hopefully, build political commitment for more transformative change. Of course, the future of humanitarian response will not only be shaped in conference rooms, but in places like Maniema – where local leadership is already showing what is possible. Our hope is that leaders present at the Conference will follow up with their embassies or country teams on the ground in DRC and elsewhere, and work with us to find practical, transformative ways to better partner on facing the challenges and opportunities together.