Influencing

Shaping global decisions through the power and experience of the Global South

We leverage our collective power to shape policies, funding, and structures, influencing the global agenda and fortifying Global South leadership. From direct engagement with donors and institutions, to setting the policy agenda and speaking on the world’s biggest stages, NEAR ensures local leaders are not just in the room but at the decision-making table.

At NEAR, our influence comes from the lived realities of our members. We work to shift the politics of aid – ensuring decisions on funding, policy, and reform are shaped by those most affected.

From national debates to regional forums and global policy spaces, we ensure Global South leaders are present, leading, and shaping the agenda. Our advocacy is grounded in evidence and collective experience. We combine research, analysis, and campaigns to influence donors, UN agencies, INGOs, and regional bodies. We resist backsliding on reform and push for practical, political shifts that redistribute power. Through this work, NEAR opens political space for local and national actors to lead responses and define the future of aid.

Shift the Balance of Aid Financing

Building funding pathways rooted in trust, legitimacy, and local authority.

Money shapes power – and today it still flows through systems that sit far from the communities living through crisis. This distance concentrates decision-making in international institutions and intermediaries, reinforcing the very imbalance the sector has pledged to change.
NEAR helps shift financing closer to communities by bringing visibility to local intermediaries and Global South–led funds, while encouraging donors, pooled funds, and UN agencies to back approaches that start from local priorities. By widening the space for these alternatives, we show what becomes possible when resources move through structures rooted in proximity and trust.
Through practical models and policy engagement, we demonstrate that a more balanced way of financing aid is not only viable – it is already taking shape.

NEAR works alongside our members to broaden how “aid delivery” is understood. By bringing evidence, lived experience, and community-led practice into global debates, we help show how local and national organisations already lead

Transform Humanitarian Delivery

Supporting response systems built on proximity, capacity, and experience

Humanitarian response is still built on the assumption that international actors must lead – even where local organisations already carry most of the work. This disconnect limits what communities can do on their own terms and locks the sector into outdated delivery models.

NEAR works alongside our members to broaden how “aid delivery” is understood. By bringing evidence, lived experience, and community-led practice into global debates, we help show how local and national organisations already lead

Reclaim Coordination and Leadership

Opening decision-making spaces to those closest to crisis
Global coordination structures – from the Grand Bargain to IASC forums and the humanitarian reset – continue to concentrate decision-making power in international hands. This shapes what is prioritised, how responses are organised, and whose voices carry weight. NEAR supports our members to step into these spaces with confidence, bringing their insight, leadership, and lived experience into processes that affect their communities every day. Through the Delegates Programme and our engagement in the Grand Bargain and UN reform, we help shift who shapes these decisions – ensuring coordination reflects realities of local leaders.

Reimagine Aid as Ecosystems

The idea of a single global aid system no longer fits the world we live in. Across regions, communities, and movements, new ecosystems of solidarity, financing, and mutual support are emerging – often more adaptive, rooted, and legitimate than international models.

NEAR brings these realities into global debate, widening the field of what donors and multilateral agencies consider possible. We help show how a more plural, multipolar future for aid is already unfolding – led by those closest to crisis and recovery.

The Influencing Team

Valeria Geremia

Network Influencing Coordinator

Brianna Guidorzi

Policy Analyst

Anita Kattakuzhy

Director of Policy

Alexandra (Sana) Brosnan

Advocacy Advisor