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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the dynamics of localisation in South Sudan's humanitarian arena. It considers the perils of a localisation driven primarily by concerns around access and cost efficiency, and explores the potential for a more transformative approach.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, localisation has become a prominent discourse in South Sudan’s humanitarian arena. Yet, direct funding to South Sudanese NGOs has barely changed; instead, localisation largely takes the form of an expansion of top-down subcontracting, primarily benefiting those organisations that most effectively replicate the policies, practices and priorities of international NGOs. In many ways, the situation in South Sudan points to the perils of a localisation driven predominantly by concerns around humanitarian access and cost efficiency, rather than by ideas of social justice and transformation. The gulf between the rhetoric around localisation and a lack of meaningfully felt change has undermined trust between actors in a highly competitive humanitarian arena, generating frustration and suspicion around who has ‘captured’ the benefits of the localisation agenda. Nonetheless, South Sudanese aid actors are increasingly using elements of the localisation agenda to claim space and to challenge the terms of their engagement in the humanitarian industry.

This paper examines dynamics of humanitarian ‘localisation’ in South Sudan, drawing on recent ethnographic research, including an extensive set of interviews with the directors and staff of a wide range of South Sudanese NGOs, and with the staff of international aid agencies. It asks what is new about the localisation agenda in South Sudan, where rhetoric around ‘capacity building’ and ‘partnerships’ has been evident throughout four decades of international humanitarian intervention. It examines the evidence around the current implementation of the localisation agenda in South Sudan, and considers the potential for a more radical, transformative approach.