In Gaza, amidst relentless conflict and unimaginable loss, the stories of Mahmoud Hamada, Samaher Abu Rakab, and countless other local leaders offer a sense of hope and resilience. Facing personal tragedies and the monumental task of responding to the needs of their community, their dedication offers a powerful testament to local leader's commitment. This blog delves into the lived realities behind the statistics, highlighting the indispensable role of local leadership in Gaza's humanitarian response.
Save Somali Women and Children (SSWC) project providing water trucking to IDP communities in Adaado district in drought ravaged Adaado district, Somalia.
One of the signature commitments of the Grand Bargain is a pledge to transfer 25% of all humanitarian funding as directly as possible to local and national actors. This target is still high on the political agenda
A HIHFAD worker helps a child with her new prosthetic leg after she was injured in the war in AlBab city.
The Secretary-General of the UN conferred that the humanitarian action should be ‘as local as possible, as international as necessary’ at the World Humanitarian Summit-2016. This call initiated the process of ‘localisation’ within the humanitarian community. Consequently, the UN agencies and a number of the international donor’s signed the commitments of Grand Bargain (GB), consequently some international organisations also signed the commitments of Charter for Change (C4C) and offered their support to the process and practice of localisation of humanitarian aid.
The consensus has been made that, ‘localisation’ refers as supporting the practice of locally-led humanitarian action. As a part of the process, the formal humanitarian sector has committed to ensure the enhanced opportunities in the field of funding, partnership values and accountability, institutional capacity strengthening and promoting roles and visibility in favour of the local organisations.
The date was 30 October 2020, a Friday. As the clocks showed 14:51, Izmir shook with an earthquake of 6.9 on the Richter scale. The third largest city of Turkey on the Western coast was unprepared for such a disaster. During the first hours, everyone’s priority was to reach a safe destination. People rushed to their cars and the traffic became a nightmare while first responders were trying to make their way to the affected neighborhoods of the city. As soon as this was broadcasted, people pulled their cars aside and made way for the search and rescue teams.
Local civil society organizations to Izmir connected immediately with one another and shared information about the affected neighborhoods. They agreed to mobilize their volunteers and resources to be able to respond to the immediate needs of those affected.
One of those civil society initiatives taking the lead in the response was the Izmir branch of Adım Adım, a volunteer-based social initiative in Turkey to which our member, Support to Life, belongs. The initiative was established in 2008 to introduce the concept of the ‘charity run’ in Turkey.
