The climate and humanitarian locally-led agendas

Entry points to enhance climate adaptation and resilience financing and action

The British Red Cross is pleased to launch a policy brief, The Climate and Humanitarian Localisation Agendas: Entry Points to Enhance Climate Adaptation and Resilience Financing and Action. The brief delves into how humanitarian and climate locally-led agendas intersect and their implications for financial flows aimed at enhancing climate adaptation and resilience. 

The brief provides a comprehensive analysis of barriers to accessing climate-related finance for local actors, across the climate and humanitarian systems, through the lens of locally-led approaches. It then proposes solutions to overcome these barriers and to enhance the role of local actors in climate adaptation and resilience efforts.

A person tries to reach a piggy bank that's high up in a tree

IMAGE: Red Cross Climate Centre / Irene Coletto / cartoonstock.com

Download the executive summary (PDF)

Download the policy brief (PDF)

Key barriers across the climate and humanitarian systems

  • Limited local decision-making power: Decision-making remains concentrated at global and national levels.
  • Fragmented approaches: Humanitarian and climate systems often operate in silos with mismatched timeframes.
  • Barriers to accessing finance: Local actors encounter bureaucratic hurdles and lack of transparency.
  • Under-supported local leadership: Local leaders are often not sufficiently empowered or resourced.
  • Lack of integration: There is a need for better alignment between different efforts and systems.

Policy recommendations

For funders

  • Develop integrated localisation strategies
  • Enhance tracking and transparency
     

For intermediary organisations

  • Should go from manager to enabler to better support local actors
  • Broaden their capacity-strengthening efforts
     

For both funders and intermediaries

  • Pilot risk-sharing approaches
  • Establish equitable cost-sharing mechanisms

If you have any questions or wish to discuss the policy brief further, please feel free to contact: