Shifting the Power Francis Atul Sarker, CARITAS Bangladesh and Michael Mosselmans, Christian Aid

Shifting the Power Three year project £4,876,636 Department for International Development (DFID) Disaster and Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP).

Participants Action Aid (Lead) CAFOD Christian Aid Concern OXFAM Tearfund

Location

Aims more acceptable balance between international and local responses to disasters strengthen national capacity for decision-making and leadership, help national organisations to achieve better representation, voice and recognition. influence international organisations to support and promote the work of local and national organisations.

Activities support 55 local partners in 5 countries to strengthen their preparedness and response capacity - using SHAPE framework support local actors in 5 countries to be better represented and heard in platforms and networks research piece puts forward recommendations for 6 INGOs to implement localisation better.

5 key messages Importance of strategic and sustained investment for strengthening LNNGO organisational systems apart from humanitarian skills. Maximising in house capacity on capacity building as cost-effective approach. Follow-up activities to training eg action plan, monitoring, coaching and mentoring are effective methodologies Dialogue and action planning between INGOs and local partners on practical steps forward. Challenging for INGO country offices to adapt policies, systems and ways of working if these are not supported at HQ level.

Shifting the Power : perspective from Bangladesh New way of being effective in Emergencies Bangladesh is a typically disaster prone country with monsoon flood and cyclones being recurrent emergencies. Local CSO/NGOs respond to these emergencies sporadically & often without realizing the CHS, DM Act including humanitarian principles.

New way of being effective in Emergencies Through STP the scattered initiatives are harmonized and aligned with a common vision--- better representation, voice and recognition. Important contribution of STP in Bangladesh are: Empowering & adding local voice in emergency response Immersion of external actors into local knowledge, culture, strength in responding to emergencies. Accompaniment in getting into the ‘bargain’ Enhancing accountability to local stakeholders

New way of being effective in Emergencies-- Contd Capacity building: A total of 17 types of training e.g. JNA, Organizational Humanitarian Strategy Development, CHS and Organizational Assessment & Kobo tool , etc. have been arranged so far (participatnts-850). Joint planning & response: The recent Haor Flash Flood paved way for putting the collective strength into joint response (consortium of 4 org) and successful joint action.

New way of being effective in emergencies Mutual learning: CSO have different expertise and strength. STP has been instrumental in promoting exchange of knowledge, learning & good practices for mutual benefit and collective strength. Influencing policy: Formation of National Alliance of Humanitarian Actors in Bangladesh (NAHAB), a platform for local organization towards advocacy and policy level influencing with GoB and other institutional actors.

New way of being effective in Emergencies-- Contd Harnessing local knowledge and strength: Bangladesh despite being a small country; has diversity in local emergency. Flood, drought, landslide, cyclone, urbanization (Urban DRR) are different from each other. CSOs have grassroots level linkage and they bring wealth of knowledge and insights into emergency response. Private sector engagement: One of the key area where Bangladeshi CSOs are currently focusing is engaging the private sector and corporate into humanitarian emergency.

Challenges ahead New emergencies continue to appear and thus challenges are new. Rapid urbanization is taking place in the context of Bangladesh (and probably in South Asia) and there is growing need for capacity development in urban disaster response. Earthquake preparedness and response is one of the key issues that govt of Bangladesh and CSOs need very clearly. Continuity of STP in Bangladesh. I understand that the STP project is going to be over soon. Local initiatives towards shifting the power through NAHAB are in the ‘childhood’ state. There is clear need for further support.

Thank You Questions?

Discussion Groups Identify 3 top priority steps that you could take in your role to help to shift the power and further the localisation agenda