“To address the complexity of global poverty and inequality, we need solutions that reflect and integrate that complexity. This is where community-centred, locally led efforts shine, offering results that don’t just last funding cycles, but generations.“
Jonathan Clark, Bond news
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Over the past few years there has been an increasing number of questions raised about the whole field of aid and international development, challenging both the effectiveness of its architecture and mechanics, but also some of the core principles and ethics. As people explore what values such as equality, justice and sustainability mean in the 21st century, concepts such as decolonisation and localisation are gaining in importance and challenge everyone active in the sector (governments, institutions, organisations and individuals) to reflect on their own values, practices and continuing involvement.
Over the past year significant reductions in multi-lateral and bi-lateral aid have brought a new urgency/opportunity to find answers to these questions. While the causes and scale of the reductions may vary, their range is significant, covering (for example) the EU, USA, UK, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland and Finland. There is plenty of evidence of the devastating effect of these cuts, particularly amongst the organisations receiving the funds and, most of all, the beneficiaries of their programmes.
For ICA, the localisation process began in the 1980s, with a key milestone being the Global Conference in Mexico in 1988 when the decision was reached to transform the global organisation into a network of independent, autonomous organisations governed and managed locally. This change was driven by a perception that local development occurs through:
- strengthening and diversifying local economies;
- developing training models to give people adequate skills to support themselves;
- developing and motivating local leadership;
- supplanting disunity and separation with patterns of cooperative action; and
- sustaining people inwardly in the exhausting work of community renewal (avoiding vocational burnout)
and that ICA’s main contribution to local development was to support and develop strong local institutions.
The ICA International network still exists today and continues to make decisions based on consensus (members meet regularly as a global board). Implementation is carried out by individual members, often working in partnership. The network is characterised by its closeness to those it serves- the voices of the communities only have to go through 1-2 people to reach the global Board. Such a model begins to address some of the power dynamics inevitably present in a such a diverse international body and the communities it serves.
ICA:UK’s Village Volunteer scheme should be seen in this context. Started in 1985 by ICA volunteers returning from community-based work in Kenya, the scheme was originally intended to enable ex-volunteers and others to supplement the small stipends received by the Kenyan volunteers as they carried out the community development work. As ICA Kenya and its programmes developed and became able to employ people, the sponsors’ funds were still used to support the staff members, helping with school fees, medical expenses, staff training, etc.
By the early 2000s, however, a review of the scheme (conducted with all the main stakeholders) raised questions about its contribution and impact. We also recognised that other donors, with their focus on reaching beneficiaries, often ignored the requirement to invest in local organisations in order to identify and reach the most needy.
This led to a shift in the Village Volunteers approach, still focusing on strengthening local institutions, but opening up the fund to all ICA:UK’s partners in Africa. We believe this focus aligns well with a decolonised approach, allowing partners to submit proposals based on their own organisational needs or those of the communities they are serving. Similarly, where external input is needed (e.g. from trainers, consultants), we draw as much as possible on local expertise.
The impact of this approach is encouraging. Since 2007, 13 local organisations in Africa have benefitted from over £30,000 in grants, all raised from individual sponsors in the UK. In addition, ICA:UK was able to leverage over £200,000 from institutional donors (UK Government, Trusts and Foundations) for the benefit of partners in Africa. The 2024 survey captured the lessons and impact from the scheme, including reports such as:
“The impact assessment report has been an eye opener to TYO. It has been used as an evaluation tool where we’ve done adjustments to the TYO activities in the community so as to meet the specific needs of the young people”.
Tujiendeleze Youth Organisation, Kenya
“For ten to fifteen years prior to this exercise, ICA Uganda operated and was based mainly among grassroots communities where we had projects running. Out of this exercise, ICAU realised the need to be more visible. It was resolved during this exercise that ICA should find itself a permanent home.”
ICA Uganda
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