The Sudan INGO Forum is pleased to share the report, “Local humanitarian actors in Sudan: A study of the local response ecosystem.”
The research draws on interviews with local humanitarian and civil society actors, international stakeholders and a focus group discussion, alongside a review of relevant literature and open-source material.
The central argument is that localisation in Sudan is not simply a question of transferring funding, functions or organisational capacity from international to national actors.
It’s fundamentally about who has the authority to define priorities, make decisions, represent others and shape the humanitarian response.
The mapping highlights several issues in particular:
Sudan’s local response is highly diverse and historically rooted, including actors emerging from civic organising, mutual aid, community structures and more established national organisations.
Legitimacy is built through sustained relationships with communities, local knowledge, shared experience and demonstrated action, and does not necessarily follow from formal registration or international recognition.
Coordination has become an important source of collective capacity, helping dispersed local actors share information, solve practical problems and engage with larger institutions.
At the same time, coordination structures can acquire representative authority, raising questions about mandate, accountability and who is able to speak for whom.
The humanitarian system itself plays an important role in shaping power within the local response.
The report concludes with a number of practical recommendations for INGOs, UN agencies and donors.