NEAR members from left to right: Ahmed Ibrahim, ASAL Humanitarian Network, Kenya; Burak Cinar, Support to Life Turkiye; Shahida Suleiman, Taakulo Somali Community Organisation
It seems that everyone has finally recovered from the whirlwind that is the European Humanitarian Forum (EHF) — back-to-back panels, side conversations, networking, influencing. For NEAR and our members – from Myanmar, Kenya, Somalia, Liberia, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria – it was something else entirely: a moment of urgency, reflection, and resolve.
NEAR recently took a moment to debrief with our members who attended EHF, asking: What are we taking away? How are we moving forward?
Sentiments of Urgency and Frustration
EHF could not have happened at a more consequential time. The humanitarian sector has not only lost funding but is quickly losing legitimacy. When we gathered in Brussels, the effects of cuts had already been – and continue to be – felt across the globe, not least for many local and national organisations.
There was a sense of urgency at EHF that the forum has not experienced before, felt particularly on the sidelines, in the conversations our members had with each other, bilateral donors, and others. In this context, the commitment that ECHO (European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations) announced to reaching 25% funding as directly as possible to local actors by 2027 was hugely welcome. Currently at 11% funding to local actors, ECHO has a long way to go, but they clearly feel that they have large shoes to fill, having stated more than once that they are now the largest humanitarian donor.
There were few other bold commitments made at EHF. What we heard instead was frustration, concern, and fatigue (and not just from local organisations). Frustration from our members that some panels seemed to discuss critical topics as if it were business as usual, that certain contexts were not given time; frustration that panels did not seem to have as strong local representation as EHF the previous year; and frustration that many panels felt like talk shops rather than real opportunities for dialogue, with little to no time left for Q&A – and therefore few local voices heard. We heard fatigue that yet again global events fail to be inclusive to those who do not speak English fluently. And, perhaps most palpable, we witnessed fatigue (not just from local actors) with new reform agendas, coupled with deep concern that these reforms will not yield concrete change.
The Gap Between Words and Action
The refrain that the system should be as “local as possible, as international as necessary" was a common one at EHF. But, as Irwin Loy from The New Humanitarian recently said at another event, “Who decides what is possible? Who decides what is necessary?”
While our members continue to advocate, it is clear to them that without changing power structures, we get new platitudes but remain stuck with the same systems.
Beyond Platitudes: Shifting Power
NEAR and our members aren’t waiting for the system to change. We are pushing it to change.
It is with these questions, and this resolve, that NEAR members continue to advocate for an aid system that:
Trusts local and national civil society
Centres communities, and
Shifts decision making and resource allocation in ways to achieve that.
As Shahida Suleiman said in her panel discussion on localisation, “We all have a role to play in building this new house, in weathering the storm together. But we have been doing capacity building as local organsations for a long time - it's time for international actors to sit back and see that investment bear fruit".
The EHF may be over, but the work is not.
NEAR members and representatives from Lebanon. From left to right: Mahmoud Mansour, LHDF; Stephanie Antoun, LHDF, Nadine Saba, Akkar Network for Development, Jeanne Frangieh, HIMAYA DAEEM AATAA, Jana el Khoury, LHDF.
NEAR Member from Syria, Rana Bitar, Space of Peace.