Three Steps NGO Leaders Can Take toward a Future of Inclusive, Locally Led Development

By Maqsoda Maqsodi, President and chief executive officer (interim) ; Pape Amadou Gaye, Founder& President, Baobab InstituteApril 27, 2023If you ask the head of any international or regional NGO what is on their mind lately, chances are it’s the same thing that’s on ours: the localization debate.And it truly is a debate—opinions vary on every aspect of it, from what we should call it to how to do it, and how to help your organization survive it. Those of us who follow such things have seen an onslaught of opinion pieces on this topic lately, most of which highlight northern perspectives and the points of view of implementers and donors.Shifting power to local organizations is the right thing to do.It seems there are two things on which we all generally agree: 1) that shifting power and resources to local organizations that know their communities’ needs and contexts best is the right thing to do, and 2) that doing so will fundamentally change our businesses.Adaptation is not optional. But how?Many organizations are passively resisting this shift, acquiring one another or creating subsidiaries that call themselves local but are in fact not. Others have long recognized that localizing programs has always been the end game, and so they’ve invested in creatinglocal organizations that eventually become independent entities.As we embark on adapting our two organizations—IntraHealth International and theBaobab Institute—we are asking ...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Family Planning & Reproductive Health Education Performance Source Type: news