"Local partners speak the language, know local customs and are close to the people affected by crisis", Karamoko Sidibe, Welthungerhilfe Co-Chair, Food Security Cluster Mali
The global Food Security Cluster and its partner Welthungerhilfe have initiated a joint video project in 2016, supported by the German Federal Foreign Office. The videos show the importance of partnering in humanitarian crises, how local partners can get involved in Food Security Clusters in countries and how they collaborate in different humanitarian crises and responses. The countries chosen are Bangladesh as an example for a country in South Asia that is prone to natural disasters, Mali as an example for a complex crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Iraq as an example for a complex humanitarian crisis in the Middle East Region. These countries showcase three diverse cultural and humanitarian contexts and present various coordination solutions in both sudden-onset disasters and protracted crises. The focus of the video is put on the added value and advantage of coordinating and partnering with local actors. Please find out more about how localisation works in Bangladesh, Mali and Iraq in the respective videos, go here.
The protagonists in the videos are national and international partners of the Food Security Cluster, who share their perspectives and opinions on:
- Why is coordination important?
- What are the essentials about partnership?
- How do local actors involve in humanitarian coordination?
- Why do we need to strengthen local actors in humanitarian coordination and response?
These videos tell the story about the important role local actors play in the humanitarian context. They are first responders to disasters and outbreak of violence as they provide humanitarian assistance that is not only timely, but also highly relevant to the priorities and needs of the affected women, girls, men and boys. After the crisis, when international organisations have already moved to the next crisis, local partners remain in the country. Preparedness and resilience-building play an important role in partnership and coordination. Capacitating local systems, governemnts and civil societies to become competent first responders is therefore crucial. There is a long way ahead of us to get the maximum benefit out of the collaboration with international and national partners to coordinate in clusters and support the affected communities with a better, more coordinated humanitarian response. Learning from each other and sharing knowledge through collaboration and coordination can help to reach this objective.
The videos are provided as a tool to raise awareness and create dialogue to strengthen active engagement of local actors in humanitarian coordination. You can access all videos here. For downloading the videos, please contact Andrea Duechting.