Ten years on, localisation promises by the international aid system remain unfinished.

But across the Global South, local and national organisations continue to organise and adapt.

They bring trust, relationships and knowledge that can’t be substituted.

They carry the risks in difficult conditions.

Contribute time and resources – costs that aren’t counted.

Yet this power remains largely unrecognised.

Reform cannot be about intention alone. We need different starting points.

What happens when many new funding pathways are locally shaped.

When sustainability is prioritised over projects.

When money and decision-making actually shift – not just responsibility.

When solidarity is valued.

It is time to redesign systems around those already doing the work – and invest accordingly.

It’s time to build more locally-led aid ecosystems.

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Read NEAR’s flagship research report, Building More Locally-Led Aid Ecosystems: 2025 Insights from Global South Civil Society.  This report is an attempt to bring nuanced insights from Global South civil society on the hopes and struggles of daily realities, as well as their efforts to find a different way forward. Mimicking the realities in which many national and local organisations find themselves, the report looks both within the dominant international system and outside it.