The Alliance for Public Health has joined implementation of the global approach to the localization of humanitarian aid which is currently actively used around the world. Supported by the Church of Ireland and the charity organization Christian Aid, the Alliance has implemented the project “Accelerating local humanitarian response in Ukraine through the management and capacity strengthening of Local and National Ukrainian Actors”. During the year a due diligence (passporting) was conducted as a part of the project and 29 local NGOs were comprehensively supported based on its results.
Localization of humanitarian response is the process of transferring management and resources from international donors to local and national organizations involved in responding to crises. This concept was the key part of the Grand Bargain, first presented at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016. It will facilitate increasing funding for humanitarian assistance to victims by reducing salaries budgets of international humanitarian organizations that act as intermediaries between donors and local organizations. This will help local Ukrainian NGOs become self-confident and enable them to work directly with international donors and without international intermediary organizations located in Ukraine or in the country that provides the money.
Current situation with localization in Ukraine
Despite significant funding and support for pilot localization projects as well as active participation of Ukrainian organizations, the structural changes for effective localization of humanitarian assistance have proven insufficient. A truly Ukrainian-led humanitarian response would be more cost-effective and have a better chance of continuing and reaching people in need while there’s anticipation of the future donors’ aid reductions. The case study “Passing the Buck: The Economics of Localizing Aid in Ukraine” found that local organizations, unlike international intermediaries, can implement programs that are 15.5% more cost-effective. The volume of funding for Ukraine in 2024 (calculated in 2023) was $6.6 billion. If 25% of funds were deployed to local actors, total cost efficiencies would be estimated at $256m over 2 years (p. 14 of the case study “Passing the Buck: The Economics of Localizing Aid in Ukraine”).
Other studies conducted in Ukraine have found that lengthy, complex and often overlapping processes of comprehensive verification of local implementers by various international donors are significant obstacles for the national organizations to cooperate with them directly without intermediary organizations (reference: Lizz Harrison, with Dmytro Kondratenko and Kateryna Korenkova, Options for supporting and strengthening local humanitarian action in Ukraine: a scoping exercise report, DEC, 2023). Many local Ukrainian organizations do not have experience of positive passing of such verifications or even participation in such comprehensive NGO capacity audits. That is why the Alliance initiated a comprehensive assessment (passporting) and further training and development of organizational capacity for Ukrainian organizations of different levels: from large NGOs with many years of experience to very young ones that are just starting their journey. The process took place from February 2024 to February 2025: regional NGOs established for themselves understanding of “where they are now” in terms of their policies and procedures, organizational structure, programmatic, financial and strategic capabilities, they outlined the direction of their further movement, developed the necessary additional documents, formed or developed the necessary skills and abilities and passed certification which will allow them to participate in capacity checks in the future and effectively cooperate with international donors.
Training of Ukrainian NGOs and international passporting
The 29 partner NGOs from different parts of Ukraine participated in the training. The first stage was a general “passporting” based on a comprehensive NGO capacity audit that was developed in the UK and that includes checking of the 8 parameters. This is a mandatory check – Due Diligence Passporting, which each organization goes through when applying for funding/granting to international donors.
As the passporting result each of the 29 regional NGOs received the certain number of points for each of the assessment criteria. The next step was creation of a 1-year personal development plan based on the assessment of each NGO; the main goals of such plan were describing and implementing specific actions of the organization in order to improve or form its own organizational documents, structures, algorithms, etc.
In addition, the Alliance conducted seven workshops with the staff of each NGO during which the main current and strategic problems of the organization’s life were additionally identified. Among the most relevant problems were: lack of experience in systematic fundraising, writing grant applications, staff burnout due to fatigue from the war and work in stressful situations, lack of constant psychological support, etc. Based on the workshops, the Alliance developed its comprehensive program of training NGOs and supporting them in the implementation of personal capacity development plans. The program included several areas:
- thematic education/trainings;
- trainings on mental health support;
- thematic individual and group supervisions for the organizations’ employees;
- after-training online consultations (once a week) to clarify/deepen/consolidate the knowledge gained during training and practicing the skills;
- assistance to NGOs provided by involved legal experts in a detailed audit of existing policies and procedures, their revision, as well as writing the new modern and relevant documents.
At the beginning of the project, the main ideas were:
- adaptation of the audit/passporting tool developed by the British to the Ukrainian realities;
- introduction of a certificate for NGOs with their assessments based on the results of passporting which could later be used by NGOs for other donors as confirmation that they have already undergone a similar audit (Due Diligence Passporting).
Currently, the technical partner of the Christian Aid project is advocating among international donors that provide funding for humanitarian projects in Ukraine for an approach to mutual recognition of passporting/audit/assessment certificates of Ukrainian NGOs.
Key lessons learned from the project
In order for the project to be effective, it was important for the Alliance team to be very flexible in planning events and always be guided by the most relevant needs of the organizations.
The main lesson of this project is that the process of NGO participation in the project, the gradual strengthening of their capacity through training and support from the Alliance was as important for the staff and management of the organizations as the final result – receiving a certificate of passing the passporting.
“We took part in the training to get certified and thus avoid duplication, in order not to be constantly audited by international organizations but in fact we have received lasting and qualitative changes within the organization. For example, we understood where we were then and what we needed to improve, we systematized all the documents, saw what was missing and worked on them, planned in which direction we would develop. And this has become a very big advantage of this project”, said a representative of one of the NGOs.
Another important lesson was this: when passporting of NGOs was done, training was provided and assistance was introduced to strengthen their capacity in organizational life, then an additional final passporting is necessary for their assessment and certification with the purpose of taking into account their improvements` results. In the Alliance project after a year of working with NGOs on their training and development such final assessment was carried out using the passporting tool to reflect the improved indicators in the certificate. These certificates will be available for the NGOs` use in their further work and in the search for new grants.
Based on the results of this work, the project team developed the document Due Diligence Passporting: Lessons from Localization in Ukraine – Christian Aid Ireland based on the feedback from the participants. This document highlighted the lessons that must be taken into account when implementing similar projects, namely
- the need to eliminate duplication of audits of regional NGOs’ policies and procedures by various donors by means of mutual recognition of results/certificates from previously completed assessments and audits using donor-agreed tools. This will enable local Ukrainian NGOs to feel confident, save time and effort and also allow donors to coordinate their activities and quickly find regional partners for the implementation of humanitarian initiatives;
- the importance for local NGOs not only to undergo an assessment/audit, receive an appropriate certificate, but also to see their “strengths” and “areas for further development”, strengthen their own potential through thematic training and technical support from experts and experienced organizations;
- the awareness by local NGOs of their own internal efficiency by structuring and improving the documentation, algorithms, structures and working processes employed in the organizations. This has a positive impact on the confidence of NGOs in their ability to perform high-quality humanitarian work in accordance with international standards and find funding for that.
Today, the localization of Ukrainian humanitarian aid remains the key task for donors and international organizations as it can make aid more effective, targeted, sustainable and long-lasting.
The activity was carried out within the framework of the project “Accelerating local humanitarian response in Ukraine through the management and strengthening of the capacity of Local and National Ukrainian Actors” which was implemented by the Alliance with technical support from the Christian Aid and financial support from the Church of Ireland. During the implementation of the project, recommendations were developed for the organizations willing to implement a similar project: https://www.christianaid.ie/sites/default/files/2025-03/ddpp-lessons-from-a-journey-with-lnas_ukrainian.pdf
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