The localisation of aid following Hurricane Matthew in Haïti

This study has two objectives: on the one hand, it aims to shed light on operations via an initial assessment of the progress and difficulties encountered in localising aid in this specific context; on the other hand, it aims to contribute to the ongoing debate within the international humanitarian community on the localisation of aid, its definition, its challenges and its risks.

Groupe URD is involved in several studies that aim to establish a shared understanding of the ‘localisation of international aid’. We conducted a study on the response to the Syrian crisis in Tripoli in Lebanon in partnership with the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, as well as two case studies in Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a research project entitled “More than the money: localisation in practice” for Trocaire.

There is no clear definition of aid localisation in the humanitarian sector. However, semantic clarifications are needed to structure the way information about this subject is collected and analysed. Based on our expertise and previous work in this area, we suggest the following generic definition: “The localisation of aid is a process implemented by different stakeholders from the humanitarian system that aims to strengthen the role of local and national actors, whether representatives of the public authorities or civil society, giving them a central role in the response”.