Paper details

Paper authors	Asif Sherazi
In panel on	Local humanitarian leadership and faith: humanitarian INGOs, local faith actors, and religious literacy
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

This paper will highlight the active role of both local organisations (LOs) and faith-based local organisations (FBLOs) in providing humanitarian assistance in disasters. The starting point for the paper is that FBLOs along with other local actors are active in providing humanitarian assistance to the neediest at the front lines and have been and continue to be the first responders in various disasters in their communities. However, local actors, including FBLOs, often are not well-integrated in the formal Disaster Management Systems (DMS), resulting in the eclipsing their role, even in situations of Local Humanitarian Leadership. The paper will explore these challenges of localisation by looking at the work of LOs and LFBOs in Kenya, Ethiopia, DRC and Pakistan. The paper will conclude by, first, suggesting ways of improving DMS that will help in enhancing preparedness capacity for a networked and effective response and, second, presenting recommendations to enable, through religious literacy, LOs and FBLOs to attain their due recognition and power in the system.

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