Listening to, learning with, and being led by: Shifting power across the humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding sectors

It has long been acknowledged that the distinctions in policy and practice between the humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding sectors don’t translate to the lived realities of people experiencing conflict or disaster. We need solutions that come from affected people and international systems that can support and be led by proximate actors, and are agile enough to respond regardless of the sectoral labels the international system places on the nature of the conflict or disaster. While all of this might sound common sense in practice, it is far from the reality of the international humanitarian, development, or peacebuilding sectors. 

CDA is bridging the gap between the sectors we work in and the sectors we want to see. We’re dedicated to learning what transformational change within organizational structures and partnerships looks like to actualize a locally-led system, how to bring peacebuilding strategies and climate change policies together for contextual and locally-grounded solutions to disaster, and how organizations navigate and mitigate risk to be more expansive and responsive to needs. Throughout all of this, we ask ourselves:

What would it take to shift systems of power? And what is our role – with our partners, in our learning, and in our organizational structure – to actualize this power shift?

This blog explores how CDA is answering these questions through various programs and efforts – and how you can join us to shift power, together. 

The role of local and traditional knowledge in developing effective responses to climate change and conflict

Shifting power is a crucial strategy for driving systems change. Through the leadership of marginalized communities and stakeholders who are most affected by systemic issues that result in conflict – or are conflated by disasters and create complex humanitarian crises – it becomes more feasible to challenge and transform existing systems. Critically, developing effective responses to climate change and conflict requires the participation of communities affected by natural disasters, climate change, and environmental degradation in conflict-affected countries. Climate change mitigation and adaptation plans often lack a good understanding of communities’ traditional knowledge and practices, which increases vulnerabilities and conflict risks. However, shifting power can reduce these risks and vulnerabilities by putting communities’ socio-ecological practices and adaptive capacities at the center, increasing overall resilience.

Suva, Fiji, 2022. Credit: Siad Darwish

Evidence from CDA’s Environment-Fragilty-Peace Nexus project (EnPax)  in Fiji, the United States, and Ghana demonstrates that Indigenous knowledge – or Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) – has the potential to increase effectiveness in climate adaptation strategies. TEK can inform policymakers and practitioners about Indigenous socio-ecological practices for coping with natural disasters. Indigenous tribes have used TEK for millennia, allowing them to thrive in environments wrought by natural disasters. Among TEK strategies are burning practices for land management and wildfire reduction, seasonal mobilization and seed preservation to increase food security, construction of irrigation systems and reservoirs for water security, and more. However, programming and policies often do not consider these practices as a form of climate resilience and adaptation and rely on other alternatives with poor context-specific analysis. As a result, communities, particularly the most vulnerable to climate change, such as Indigenous tribes and women, continue to suffer loss and damage and increasing vulnerabilities.

EnPax seeks to understand, analyze, and develop resources to address conflict patterns, community resilience strategies, and peace practices across 15+ global case studies by listening to grassroots organizations and communities affected by conflict and climate change in fragile settings. EnPax also seeks to shift power to communities to contribute to sustainable peace and resilience to climate change.

Responsible transitions: The “how” of shifting power from international to local leadership

SAS+ team, 2022. Credit: Emily Long

Another critical way that CDA engages in shifting power and systems change is through supporting responsible transition processes from international to local leadership. While there is multi-sector-wide recognition that meaningful and lasting change is most feasible when development, peacebuilding, and humanitarian action is led by people in their own contexts, there is little knowledge of how to shift sectors from being internationally-led to locally-led. For the last six years, CDA has been learning what works in transition processes through the Stopping As Success program. We have seen the transformative potential that transitions have if they are done intentionally, jointly, and responsibly.

Most recently, the consortium has been applying evidence-informed lessons and resources to 10+ active transitions within organizations, programs, and networks in 30+ countries. We have worked with partners who have planned a transition from the beginning of the partnership as well as others who are changing organizational structures based on funding opportunities or to better align with their values. Over the course of the last two years of accompaniment, we’ve seen lessons relevant to other transition processes:

• Decide to transition early and do so with relevant partners. The initial decision to transition will impact the relationship throughout as well as the outcome of the transition.
• Dedicate time to focus on strategic elements of the transition (and not just the procedural). Strategic elements include leadership of the entity post-transition, the end goal of the transition, and the post-transition relationship between partners. 
• Allocate resources – both staff time and funding – for all involved in the transition to be able to dedicate time and efforts to transition well. 
• Communicate frequently and both internally (within the organization) and externally (with the community and partners). This will help socialize ownership of the transition throughout the organization as well as familiarity to people who will be impacted outside of the organization. 
• Truly transformational transitions can be risky, so partners need to be honest about their fears and limitations and have the ability to fail (and course correct) while trying new things. Leaning into risk and creativity – while scary – allows transitions to be transformative rather than reconfigurations of a partnership. 

For more lessons and resources to support, see SAS+’s 25+ resources and tools or get in touch with the team. 

From evidence to action: People-centered policy and practice

Risk is a topic that comes up again and again throughout all our work, especially with climate change and conflict and transition processes. Over the past two years, CDA partnered with InterAction to identify and understand risk management “traps” that limit organizations’ abilities to meet humanitarian needs and adapt to complex contexts, as well as strategic changes that can break these traps. Risk III: From Evidence to Action defines strong risk management and the success factors of flexible and people-centered policy and practice. Together, we developed a resource and learning guide, a risk management scorecard, an introductory video, and more. This work is a significant step to equip responsive and quality program delivery in some of the most challenging contexts. 

Shifting power and promoting systems change in risk management requires a fundamental shift in mindset and practices. It is important to ensure that we are creating a ‘risk intelligent’ culture centered around program delivery and organizational resources, rather than investing in documentation and ‘ensuring compliance’. Risk management is often reduced to a box-ticking approach and limits a country team’s ability to manage and respond to risks dynamically as they come up. Any risk management policy or system is only as good as the intent behind it, people’s capacity to implement it, and the willingness to make changes when it no longer supports the organization’s aims.

Ways to engage going forward

There are several effective ways to engage and contribute to systems change. One important avenue is to be led by and to partner with grassroots organizations and listen to communities impacted by international aid and climate change impacts and conflict. Each of CDA’s projects and efforts mentioned in this blog are shifting power in meaningful ways, and we would love to collaborate:

• Environmental Peacebuilding:  The EnPax project is looking to continue learning from global case studies. We’re looking for partners to conduct case studies using a systems thinking approach in countries such as Somalia, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso. Funding partners are essential for consultations that bring together affected communities and communities of practice around peacebuilding, climate adaptation, and mitigation, with expert stakeholders working at this nexus. During consultations, findings and key themes are discussed as frameworks and tools to address climate change and conflict. Moreover, we are looking for funding partners to support the development of an updated Reflecting on Peace Practice (RPP+) handbook and issue papers. If you are interested in being part of this global project, contact Diana Campos at [email protected] 
• Stopping As Success: As SAS+ moves into the third year of a four-year award, we are translating the lessons learned from accompaniment into revised tools and guidance for international and local organizations as well as donors who are seeking to ensure their transition processes are responsible and sustainable. We are also focused on ensuring these lessons add up to meaningful systems change. We are always looking for partners who are transitioning well or who are eager to do so. If you would like to join our Community of Practice, share your experiences on transitions through a blog post or interview, or provide feedback on SAS+ resources and tools, please get in touch or sign up for our newsletter.
• Humanitarian Risk: We’re continuing our learning on risk by accompanying organizations, networks, and other partners to utilize the tools and resources. Are you looking for meaningful ways of improving your risk mitigation and management? Contact Hasi Edema at [email protected] for more information or sign up for CDA’s newsletter to stay up to date. 

CDA recognizes and strives to hold the questions around the imbalances of power dynamics in the humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding sectors. Doing so encourages aid organizations to shift power towards conflict-affected communities by involving them in decision-making processes, seeking their input, and valuing their perspectives and priorities – thus allowing interventions to be more conflict-sensitive and effective.

We look forward to learning with you about how to meaningfully engage in systems change work to better align with the voices of those at the receiving end of aid. 

About the authors

Diana Campos is a biologist and peacebuilder specializing in environmental peace, ecological conservation, community participation, conflict prevention, conflict transformation, and policy reform. Diana holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the National Agraria La Molina University in Peru and a Master’s in International Development Policy from Duke University in the United States. She is a Rotary Peace Fellow class XIV, passionate about social and environmental justice and equity.

Grace Boone manages programs related to shifting power across the peacebuilding-humanitarian-development nexus in order to contribute to a reimagined way of working that is led by people in their own communities and centered around global solidarity. Currently, Grace manages the Stopping As Success (SAS+) collaborative learning project which advocates for locally led development by using evidence from 13 countries to inform responsible INGO transitions. She co-edited SAS’ latest book What Transformation Takes: Evidence of Responsible INGO Transitions to Locally Led Development from Around the World. Additionally, Grace co-facilitates the Locally Led Peacebuilding Working Group alongside Alliance for Peacebuilding and Peace Direct, and leads CDA’s internal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Task Force.

Hasangani (Hasi) Edema is a passionate and experienced humanitarian professional with a deep understanding of the intersection of the humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding nexus. In her current role as a program coordinator, she plays a pivotal role in supporting CDA programming, grounded in action research around nurturing accountability and shifting power. As an integral member of the ‘Stopping As Success’ collaborative learning project, Hasi offers thought partnership on fostering responsible transitions in humanitarian response and action. She also leads CDA’s Learning Partnerships committee and co-leads CDA’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice task force.