This chapter explores the increasing focus on locally led development among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members. It highlights persistent challenges such as political dynamics and systemic constraints that hinder progress in this area. The chapter also discusses how global shifts and crises like the COVID-19 pandemic have influenced DAC members to rethink traditional power structures and engage more with local actors. The chapter then outlines the methodology used to conduct the peer learning exercise, presenting the learning questions and the building blocks of the exercise. In the framing, it also presents the key definitions used throughout the peer learning exercise, emphasising the inclusivity of the process. It concludes by outlining the structure of the report.
Pathways Towards Effective Locally Led Development Co-operation
Abstract
Promoting increased agency of local actors for effective development co-operation is rising up the policy agenda among development co-operation partners, as evidenced by the recent international statement on supporting locally led development signed by 21 Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members and 22 foundations, including in the margins of the 2022 Effective Development Co-operation Summit in Geneva, Switzerland (USAID, n.d.[1]).1 However, while there has been progress, DAC members continue to meet significant obstacles in their ambitions to advance development co-operation that is genuinely locally led. These range from political and power dynamics to systemic constraints, and limited options for practical ways to adjust programming.
Recent commitments towards locally led development build on longstanding efforts to ensure and promote country ownership in development co-operation. These are reflected in the development effectiveness principles (Paris Declaration, Accra Agenda, Busan Principles)2 (Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation, n.d.[2]), as well as efforts to promote the role of local knowledge and decision-making in development practice through participatory approaches. Indeed, locally led development is not a new agenda for DAC members. It is a fundamental feature of the development effectiveness principles to which DAC members are already committed. In many ways, it is an opportunity to reinvigorate efforts and foster collective thinking on how to better live up to the ownership principle and its underpinning whole-of-society approach, albeit with a stronger focus on addressing power imbalances.
Increased momentum for locally led development has been influenced by several factors. Rising levels of conflict and fragility, alongside the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, have compounded issues of international access to some local contexts and increased recognition of the important role of diverse local actors in sustaining programming and its progress. At the same time, shifting geopolitical dynamics, including the rise of non-DAC member development providers, have dramatically altered the politics of development co-operation. Notably, increasing international competition and fragmentation have dislodged the traditional balance of power in many operating contexts, giving rise to more South-South and triangular co-operation. While this global environment has driven the alignment of development co-operation with DAC member national interests in some contexts, it has also put pressure on DAC members to work differently to drive developmental progress, more humbly and respectfully. This includes emboldened calls for decolonisation amongst Global South actors and calls for distributed leadership from local civil society organisations (CSOs) (OECD, 2024[3]).3 Within their development co-operation partnerships, DAC members are facing increasing pressure to address power imbalances and enable greater local agency in the way programmes are framed, designed, delivered and evaluated.
The shifting nature of development co-operation has underscored the need for renewed attention to locally led development, including in multilateral fora. Increased reliance on the multilateral system4 (OECD, 2024[4]) is pushing members to consider how locally led development is realised and incentivised in partnerships with international agencies, whilst identifying new funding modalities, including local intermediaries. At the same time, rising humanitarian crises coupled with global economic instability have placed significant pressures on already constrained aid budgets for many DAC members (OECD, 2024[3]; ICAI, 2023[5]). Economic constraints and lower risk appetite within DAC member domestic contexts have also increased pressure to demonstrate results, despite the generally strong support for development co‑operation amongst domestic publics (European Commission, 2023[6]). These dynamics have contributed to the long‑term challenges members face in establishing direct and equitable partnerships with local actors, including through budget support to national governments. Galvanising domestic and international opportunities to put locally led development at the epicentre of national and international debate, will be critical.5
In early 2023, the DAC agreed to carry out a peer learning exercise on locally led development to share approaches to promote locally led development (OECD, 2023[7]). The peer learning took place over a 12-month period (July 2023 to June 2024), with the aim of building a common understanding of locally led development co-operation and strengthening the evidence base to inform DAC member policies, systems and practices. The Peer Learning Team comprised The Share Trust in collaboration with Warande Advisory Centre, ODI, Epic Africa, and local researchers in Ethiopia, Nepal, and Colombia, working closely with the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD) and a Sounding Board, with members providing expertise and advice to guide the peer learning process. The peer learning approach was guided by the principles of equitable learning and collaboration with in-country experts to draw on diverse perspectives and experiences.
The peer learning centred on the following learning questions:
How do DAC member policies and institutional frameworks; financing, collaboration, and partnership mechanisms; management processes and implementation practices enable or constrain locally led development co-operation?
What broader DAC member and local operating contextual parameters influence locally led development co-operation, and how are DAC members responding to these?
What good practices exist for enabling local actor agency across locally led development co‑operation dimensions (framing, design, delivery, learning and accountability) with opportunities to replicate and scale best practices?
The peer learning comprised five key building blocks: i) framing locally led development co-operation (OECD, 2023[8]); ii) three DAC member case studies: Canada (OECD, 2024[9]), Ireland (OECD, 2024[10]) and Switzerland (OECD, 2024[11]); iii) three country deep dives: Colombia, Ethiopia and Nepal in collaboration with local researchers in these countries; iv) six thematic deep dives: risk management (OECD, 2023[12]), the role of multilaterals (OECD, 2024[13]), valuing and strengthening local knowledge and capacities (OECD, 2024[14]), accountability to local stakeholders, locally led development co-operation in politically constrained contexts, and measuring locally led development co-operation (OECD, 2024[15])6; and v) a series of peer learning consultation events to share the peer learning findings and gather feedback.
The peer learning framing paper acknowledges that enabling locally led development co-operation is a process of shifting agency dynamics across development and humanitarian action (OECD, 2023[8]). The framing paper outlined key definitions and the conceptual framework for shaping the peer learning exercise. The framework has been updated as a result of the peer learning exercise to support shared definitions and harmonisation across DAC members and informs the proposed approach to measuring locally led development, outlined in Chapter 6.
Locally led development: an ongoing development process where diverse local actors exercise agency across development policy and programme dimensions (framing, design, delivery, learning, accountability) in given local operating contexts.
Locally led development co-operation: development co-operation that supports locally led humanitarian and development assistance by recognising and enabling diverse local actors’ agency in: i) framing; ii) design; iii) delivery, including resourcing; and iv) accountability and learning.
Local actors: individuals and entities based and operating within the local context of reference, subject to local laws, whose actions are centred on local issues.
Note: Local actors can include governmental (national and subnational entities), parliaments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), grassroots associations, community-based organisations, traditional and spiritual leaders, academia, media, and the private sector. They can also include regional organisations, confederations, coalitions, and networks if member organisations maintain independent fundraising and governance systems. Local actors do not include international NGOs including country offices, multilateral organisations, and international private sector organisations.
The peer learning exercise has identified several critical enablers, which together provide the foundation for locally led development co-operation. These comprise: i) foundational frameworks: policies and institutional arrangements; ii) mechanisms: financing, partnerships, and collaboration; iii) processes including risk, compliance and procurement; and iv) implementation practices including monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL).
The remainder of the report is structured to share the peer learning findings on the contextual influences, challenges, and emerging good practices for each of the enablers of change (frameworks, mechanisms, processes, and practices) identified in Figure 1.2. Chapter 2 explores the foundational enablers – the policy and institutional frameworks enabling locally led development. Chapters 3 and 4 share findings on the mechanisms enabling locally led development – financing, and partnership mechanisms, and Chapter 5 focuses on the management processes and implementation practices that enable locally led development. Chapter 6 discusses a proposed approach for DAC members to measure progress towards effective locally led development co-operation before concluding with pathways forward for DAC members and other key stakeholders. Chapter 7 proposes pathways and priorities that DAC members and other development co-operation providers can take forward to adapt their ways of working to better support locally led development.
References
[6] European Commission (2023), EU Citizens and Development Co-operation, https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2952 (accessed on 29 June 2024).
[2] Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (n.d.), The Effectiveness Principles, https://www.effectivecooperation.org/landing-page/effectiveness-principles (accessed on 29 June 2024).
[5] ICAI (2023), UK Aid Under Pressure: A Synthesis of ICAI Findings from 2019 to 2023, Independent Commission for Aid Impact, https://icai.independent.gov.uk/review/uk-aid-under-pressure-synthesis-2019-2023/ (accessed on 29 June 2024).
[3] OECD (2024), Development Co-operation Profiles, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/2dcf1367-en.
[13] OECD (2024), From global to local: Multilateral actors and the pivot to locally led development, OECD ONE Members and Partners Database, https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD(2024)23/en/pdf.
[15] OECD (2024), Measuring Progress Towards Locally Led Development Co-operation, OECD ONE Members and Partners Database, https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD(2024)27/en/pdf.
[4] OECD (2024), Multilateral Development Finance 2024, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/8f1e2b9b-en.
[9] OECD (2024), Peer Learning on Locally Led Development – DAC Members Deep Dive: Canada, OECD ONE Members and Partners Database, https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD(2024)24/en/pdf.
[10] OECD (2024), Peer Learning on Locally Led Development – DAC Members Deep Dive: Ireland, OECD ONE Members and Partners Database, https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD(2024)25/en/pdf.
[11] OECD (2024), Peer Learning on Locally Led Development – DAC Members Deep Dive: Switzerland, OECD ONE Members and Partners Database, https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD(2024)26/en/pdf.
[14] OECD (2024), Valuing and Sharing Local Knowledge and Capacity: Practical approaches for enabling locally led development co-operation, OECD ONE Members and Partners Database, https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD(2024)28/en/pdf.
[8] OECD (2023), Framing DAC Member Approaches to Enabling Locally Led Development, OECD ONE Members and Partners Database, https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD(2023)47/en/pdf.
[7] OECD (2023), Peer Learning on Locally Led Approaches to Development, OECD ONE Members and Partners Database, https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD/DAC(2023)5/en/pdf.
[12] OECD (2023), Risk Management and Locally Led Development: Understanding How to Better Manage Risks for Sustainable Impact, OECD ONE Members and Partners Database, https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD(2023)48/en/pdf.
[1] USAID (n.d.), Localization, https://www.usaid.gov/localization (accessed on 17 May 2024).
← 1. As of 11 June 2024.
← 2. For more information, see https://www.effectivecooperation.org/landing-page/effectiveness-principles.
← 3. Whilst the terms “Global South” and “Global North” are contested terms and variously defined, it is a general rubric for decolonised nations located roughly in the geographical south, see https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2021/09/28/what-or-where-is-the-global-south-a-social-science-perspective/.
← 4. According to the OECD Multilateral Development Finance 2024 report, by 2030 the multilateral system could channel the majority of DAC members’ ODA. See https://doi.org/10.1787/8f1e2b9b-en.
← 5. For example the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), https://www.forus-international.org/en/event-detail/11759-the-fourth-international-conference-on-financing-for-development-ffd4.
← 6. Two further thematic deep dives explored locally led innovation, one focusing on the emerging role of the public sector and the other discussing the role of local innovation ecosystems in scaling innovation and options for funders.