Innovative Financing

NEAR has developed a localised funding program that provides practical, progressive, and authentic solutions, driven and designed by local and national actors. Historically amongst both humanitarian and development ecosystems, we found the missing piece to be the absence of a coordinated vision and agenda for change from local and national actors themselves.

The localised funding program does just this: NEAR incubates innovative financing models that are driven by local leadership, that shift the balance of power from Northern donors to Southern actors and the communities they represent, and that establishes a different level of ambition for local and national actors in preparing for, responding to and building resilience against crises.

NEAR acts in three distinct roles as a facilitator, advisor, and connector amongst Global South actors.

• NEAR facilitates the design of national or localised grant-making funds by activating and supporting local leadership.

• NEAR advises actors, including governments, on the launch and implementation of national and localised grant-making funds.

• NEAR connects like-minded localised and national funds to share learning.

South-to-South Platform

NEAR’s South-to-South Platform is a unique and innovative online platform that promotes communication, sharing, exchange, and learning amongst local and national actors from the Global South. The platform does not have a precedent: it is a rapid online environment that allows Global South actors to exchange and participate in a variety of ways: through curated chat groups, tailored learning modules and animations, demand-driven webinars, campaigns, and connections to opportunities for funding, consultancies, and more. It will be piloted and launched in 2021.

To know more about our Innovative Practice work, you can also read our Strategic Plan 2024-2026