Shifting the power to communities in South Sudan
“My personal experience is that there is high hope for all organizations now that the LRPF is there, I think they will all have access to funding.”– Rombek Rombek, Director of Global Aim South Sudan and Chairperson of LRPF
The Local Response Pooled Fund (LRPF) is a locally-led funding platform and network that brings the humanitarian leaders of South Sudan to the forefront of humanitarian responses. What makes the LRPF truly stand out, when compared to more traditional pooled funding mechanisms, is that local actors themselves hold full decision-making power on where and how funds are allocated among their peers to address humanitarian needs, as well as independently lead on every stage of the program cycle, as both donors and implementers.
Historically, there has been a need for more local and national actor (L/NA) representation in aid operations to encourage independence and self-determination. Despite increasing momentum behind the localization agenda, international donors and actors still wield disproportionate power in establishing humanitarian priorities and determining how resources are allocated in crisis-affected communities. In addition, it has been difficult for smaller organizations to acquire funding due to a lack of resources and perceived donor-prioritized capacity relative to their international counterparts. The combination of these challenges and global conversations in 2020 around advancing local leadership gave birth to the idea of the LRPF.
Conceived from the efforts of local nongovernmental organization’s leadership, the LRPF was officially launched in 2021 as a platform to amplify the voices of L/NAs. The goal of the LRPF is to ultimately shift the decision-making power into the hands of local leaders so they can determine how humanitarian responses are prioritized and funded in their communities.
Overcoming challenges
Although the launch of the LRPF was a step in the right direction, the newly formed LRPF still had a long journey ahead of them, especially in strengthening capacity and relationships.
The key to solving these challenges was to create a sustainable foundation for funding and self-governance.
Rombek Rombek, the current chairperson for the LRPF and the director of Global Aim South Sudan, noted that it was hard to win the support of donors due to the perceived risks associated with organizations that have not been assessed to meet demanding international compliance standards.
Paradoxically, the lack of resources makes capacity-strengthening more difficult for L/NAs and limits their ability to invest in the systems needed to comply with international donor standards.
The partnership between the LRPF and Save the Children
The LRPF invited Save the Children to partner with them in this work.
Through the support of Save the Children’s organizational expertise, the LRPF strengthened its ability to regulate affairs, established a fully functioning advisory board and implemented effective administration.
In 2022, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) awarded a grant to the Local Response Pooled Fund in South Sudan through Save the Children as a fund custodian. The project’s goal was to fund 11 South Sudanese organizations to meet the most critical COVID-19-related humanitarian needs in the country. This extended to the most remote, hard-to-reach and disadvantaged areas in South Sudan to reach approximately 48,000 vulnerable, at-risk affected people. CDP and other donor partnerships, like the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), provided critical seed funding to the initiative.
The relationship and shifting power
The LRPF started as an idea formed by the local people in Juba, South Sudan.
“The idea of the LRPF did not come from Save the Children. It’s a local initiative. It’s a group of actors who have been in the humanitarian space in South Sudan, born and raised, who came together and said, ‘Let us be a part of the humanitarian response’,” said Ezekiel Conteh, Senior Director of the Humanitarian Program Portfolio at Save the Children.
Since the beginning, the LRPF has enhanced its ability to operationalize its affairs, strengthen capacity, raise funds, and increase engagement and retention. It also started with only 11 smaller organizations within its network but now supports well over 120 L/NAs and more than 500 staff members within its constituent organizations.
“My personal experience is that there is high hope for all organizations now that the LRPF is there, I think they will all have access to funding,” said Rombek Rombek.
Localization dimensions
The following examples highlight key components that are important to this modality of working:
- Funding: Through the LRPF, a steering committee of local and national actors elected from among their peers leads decision-making on how and where humanitarian resources are allocated to address the self-identified needs of crisis-affected communities. As the fund custodian, Save the Children also sits on this steering committee, though only on an observational basis and with no voting rights when decisions are made.
- Capacity strengthening: The LRPF and Save the Children bolstered the LRPF’s international relations, financial sustainability and governance structure. With support from Save the Children, the LRPF created its own statute of operations, bylaws, and steering committee, and it evaluated and assessed areas for growth.
- Partnerships: By establishing partnership boundaries in the LRPF’s statute of operations, the network and Save the Children maintained an equitable relationship that promoted shifting the power to local actors. In doing so, they played a role in breaking down the barriers preventing L/NAs from actively participating in key decisions on prioritizing and funding humanitarian responses in their communities.
- Participation: After securing the LRPF’s organizational structure, the L/NAs within the network have expanded to encompass a diversity of members from different demographics and identities, including ones led by women, people with disabilities and youth.
- Visibility: The LRPF has exhibited excellent geographical reach to even the most hard-to-reach areas where disadvantaged communities are frequently found. In addition, the LRPF and Save the Children’s proven success with shifting power has significantly impacted the humanitarian sector and changed the narrative behind localized approaches.
The LRPF expects to become fully independent in the near future and continue to support LNAs and other members within its network. As Save the Children continues to transition from the partnership, the LRPF will continue to expand its role and leadership in driving locally-led humanitarian solutions in South Sudan. CDP is proud to support the LRPF and Save the Children by funding the early stages of the LRPF so it could form and create strong governance and processes to sustain it in the long run. We are inspired by their efforts to transfer resources and decision-making power and authority over funding decisions to local leaders in South Sudan who are best connected and best placed to understand the needs of the affected communities.
Story by Ruja Entcheva.