Local leadership in crisis response in Colombia

Focusing on local leadership and complementarity as the cornerstone of the next steps towards localisation and the broader reform of the humanitarian system in Colombia.

Cuts in global aid are affecting many agencies (the United Nations, INGOs) which have seen their capacities drastically reduced and even their institutional survival threatened. This situation could reinforce two broader trends that hinder transformative change: a technocratic approach to localisation and localisation driven by international agencies or networks of local actors seeking to position themselves in competition with others.

Colombia is likely to face further rounds of aid cuts and worsening humanitarian needs, driven by regional geopolitical instability, internal political unrest and violence during the next parliamentary term in Colombia. Funding to respond will be insufficient and response capacity (local, national and international) will be overwhelmed.

Therefore, now more than ever, each actor must recognise how they need others to mobilise support, and how they can support one another in a complementary manner, working in solidarity rather than competing. Donors and the Colombian government must also encourage and support this emphasis on local leadership, complementarity and solidarity in partnerships between international, national and local actors.

Recognise the role of networks and intermediary companion actors, both infunding the local response and in providing technical support and building domestic support for humanitarian action.

International, national and local networks and organisations that accompany other, more local actors can provide vital support for locally led humanitarian action in Colombia. Particular attention should be paid to strengthening national and local organisations and networks that play a coordinating and supporting role.

As international aid to Colombia declines, the efforts of grassroots community groups and networks to collaborate with civil society at the national level – including faith-based organisations, human rights NGOs and others – will be fundamental to mobilising both public support and funding for communities affected by the crisis, as well as to addressing the root causes and factors driving vulnerability.

International organisations must organise themselves to strengthen these groups, rather than competing with them. There are some good practices and long-term partnerships, based on solidarity, complementarity and subsidiarity, and on a genuine commitment to strengthening local leadership, which can serve as a foundation.

Addressing the bureaucratic and administrative barriers within the Colombian state that limit emergency response funding for local actors and national accountability for attacks against human rights defenders and community leaders, as well as strengthening the rule of law and the protection of these actors through a triple nexus approach.

Developments in the political situation and the conflict, as well as the government’s limited presence and/or capacity, combined with significant turnover of government staff in areas with high humanitarian needs, pose significant challenges to the effective support of humanitarian action in general and, in particular, that of local civil society.

The research identifies three priority areas for follow-up action:

1. Firstly, the government’s funding mechanisms are governed by business-style procurement systems (for example, SECOP – the Electronic Public Procurement System) and involve co-financing requirements of between 25% and 50% of the total budget, which is suitable for larger private sector actors but not for local, community-based, smaller or grassroots actors. In many cases, non-profit organisations that manage to secure state contracts do not respond to the needs of communities, are not present in local areas or lack a human rights based approach and are linked to political and clientelist networks. This undermines the ethical and practical significance of humanitarian action and jeopardises its legitimacy.
   
   For these reasons, the Colombian government should consider new funding mechanisms to better support local and grassroots actors, ensuring that the independence of local non-state actors underpins this relationship and that the relationship builds on a collaborative approach. A starting point could be to invest in OCHA’s Colombia Humanitarian Fund, as a means of strengthening an existing innovative fund that reaches LNAs, is well-established, is based on humanitarian principles, and has a credible quality and accountability framework.

2. Secondly, local actors and communities affected by the crisis face multiple threats, harassment and violence from various armed groups, and impunity for violence against them is corrosive both to protection efforts in times of crisis and to long-term efforts to transition from war to peace.
   
   To better protect human rights defenders and community leaders in conflict-affected areas of the country, the Colombian state should coordinate with LNAs to ensure an appropriate protection response tailored to specific needs, as well as systematically integrate protection through a triple-nexus approach as part of the humanitarian response.

3. Thirdly, the state must strengthen the rule of law and ensure accountability for crimes committed against human rights defenders and community leaders, recognising that the systematic impunity for these crimes – rigorously documented by organisations such as CINEP – erodes the legitimacy of institutions and undermines both the immediate humanitarian response and long-term peace processes.
   
   This requires the documentation of violations to be translated into effective judicial action, preventive protection mechanisms and public policies that guarantee the safe participation of local actors in the territories.

Direct funding through mechanisms, partnerships and consortia that demonstrate a systematic and innovative approach to equitable partnership, with governance models that ensure the transfer of skills and support for local leadership, moving beyond the grant model.

Our research highlights the importance of a diverse ecosystem of funding channels, including both NGO-led partnerships and an OCHA pooled fund that has adopted the ‘local actors only’ principle. The Colombian Humanitarian Fund ‘for local actors only’, part of the OCHA Regional Fund, is recognised as a positive innovation, but could be at risk if OCHA’s involvement in Colombia is further reduced.

Beyond the OCHA mechanism, there are a number of funding mechanisms, consortia and partnerships led by local civil society that deserve support, such as the Start Network and its Colombia Start Ready project, the NEAR LAC Regional Fund, and locally led and locally managed funding mechanisms such as the Diocese of Quibdó Commission for Life, Justice and Peace (COVIJUPA) or the SNPS - Caritas Colombia National Emergency Service (SNE).

There are also networks working to protect specific groups, such as the Coalition Against the Involvement of Children and Adolescents (COALICO) or the Colombian Children’s Alliance, as well as women’s, Afro-Colombian and Indigenous human rights organisations.

Furthermore, other successful mechanisms include the United Nations Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Peacekeeping, the Norwegian Human Rights Fund, the Swedish Colombian Civil Society Support Fund, the emergency funds of the Civil Society Support Network, such as ‘Safeguarding the Resistance’ (run by the local organisation Humanas Colombia), and the Board for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities also have specific mechanisms, such as the Indigenous Fund for the Colombian Amazon, the Fund for Assistance to Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility (IPAF), the Pawanka Fund, and the Urgent Action Fund, amongst others. Many of these mechanisms lack sufficient funding, whilst protection needs are increasing.

National networks do not have a single large, centralised fund, but instead mobilise resources, invite proposals and provide technical support through partnerships. Although they are primarily funded through international cooperation, the Colombian state has scope to strengthen them.

Ensuring that international intermediary organisations are accountable to the principles of equitable partnership (for example, provision for overheads, risk-sharing, participation in decision-making and/or mutual accountability/feedback processes, capacity-building processes) and to harmonised and more proportionate approaches to due diligence, grant requirements and reporting.

LNAs in Colombia face the same challenges as local actors in other contexts regarding the inconsistency or lack of provision for overheads, the lack of systematic or meaningful accountability regarding the principles of equitable partnership, and inconsistent approaches to understanding the risks they face and identifying ways to support them in managing and mitigating those risks. As in other contexts, both international NGOs and UN agencies still require LNAs to overcome an ever-increasing array of bureaucratic hurdles regarding due diligence, reporting, quality assurance and accountability, whilst lacking adaptations specific to the context. Harmonising and simplifying expectations of LNAs to make them more proportionate is essential to improving partnerships.

Strengthening holistic approaches to funding, coordination and planning in humanitarian, development and peace initiatives: local actors in Colombia tend to work holistically on these matters.

The silos between these initiatives and the attachment some UN humanitarian funders and donors have to the jargon or technicalities of the international humanitarian sector have hindered the provision of support to local actors more deeply rooted in crisis-affected communities and prevented a more effective response to their protection and assistance needs.

Our research also identified examples of good practice on which to build, such as former EU funding instruments (e.g. the EU Peace Labs, the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) or the United Nations Multi-Partner Trust Fund) and the support provided by Caritas partners to church, human rights, Indigenous and Afro-descendant groups and networks, which naturally combine humanitarian assistance, protection, social cohesion, peacebuilding and local development.