The Localization Agenda: Aid's Failure to Deliver on Its Grand Promise

This book tells the story of the humanitarian industry's latest failed attempt at reform, identifies the key contradiction at the heart of it, and suggests ways to do things better.

In 2016, the United Nations, international organizations and heads of state launched the Grand Bargain - “A Shared Commitment to Better Serve People in Need” - thereby announcing a systemwide reform. Key among the commitments was localization: placing local organizations at the centre of emergency responses. Howe...