Making local voices heard by donors

Why are local voices often not heard?

Local NGOs know the communities, the roads and the risks. Yet decisions on funding and priorities are often made in capital cities or abroad. The Grand Bargain localisation workstream, a group of donors, UN agencies and NGOs, found that many barriers to local actors in coordination meetings are practical: unclear membership, unclear invitations, meeting times, language and online access.

Funding chains make it harder. When a donor funds an international organisation, and that organisation funds you, your message must pass through two or three levels. Our article on working with intermediary organisations shows how to ask for direct contact.

What do donors say they should do?

Charter for Change is a group of organisations committed to locally led humanitarian action. Its 2025 recommendations for donors ask donors to hold structured, regular dialogue with local and national actors, for example every quarter. They also ask donors to create consistent opportunities for local actors to join country-level decision-making and policy discussions, especially on major reform processes.

The Grand Bargain guidance on coordination says leadership groups should include national and local organisations, because local actors bring context and expertise that complements international capacity. Use these statements. When you ask for a seat, you are asking for what donors and coordinators have said they will provide.

How can you prepare to be heard?

Follow these five steps before any donor meeting.

1. Choose one message. Pick the single most important issue: delayed payments, missing overhead, access constraints or a gap in services. A list of ten problems is easy to ignore.
2. Bring evidence. Use your monitoring data, complaint and feedback records, and short stories. Our guide on how to set up a complaints and feedback mechanism helps you collect community voice safely.
3. Make a specific request. "We ask for a three-month extension on the delivery date because the road is closed" works. "We need more flexibility" is less clear.
4. Agree who speaks. Decide in advance who presents and what you will not say. Check with your partners about security.
5. Follow up in writing. Send a three-line note the same day: what was said, what was agreed, who does what by when.

Why is a network stronger than one organisation?

A voice that represents many organisations carries more weight. Humanitarian Advisory Group found that networked practices in Asia and the Pacific can influence change at the policy level through collective movement, and helped organisations gain the critical mass to persuade donors to adopt the same practices. Networks can also share the workload when staff are stretched.

A networked approach has trade-offs. The same brief notes that smaller members can feel overpowered by larger ones. Ask how a network chooses its positions and who speaks for it. Read more in why local NGOs should join networks.

How can you remove practical barriers?

Barriers are often small and fixable. Use this checklist when you join a coordination group.

Raise them as shared problems with the chair, not as complaints. Most chairs want more participation.

What about security and trust?

Speaking up has risks in some contexts. Share patterns, not names. Do not publish exact locations or beneficiary details. Agree with partners and communities what can be said. In a sensitive situation, ask a network or an international partner to carry the message while you give the evidence privately. Describe operating realities neutrally and stick to the facts of your programme.

Finally, keep a simple record of every donor contact: date, who attended, what you asked and what was answered. Over a year this record shows whether donors act on what they hear, and it gives you evidence for your next conversation. Share it with your network so that members do not repeat the same request separately. If one donor does not respond, check whether another route works: a joint letter from several organisations, a request through a coordination group, or a short briefing to the intermediary that it can pass on. Be patient and polite. Change in funding practice is slow, and steady, well-prepared requests are more effective than occasional strong complaints.

How EMPO can help

EMPO is a trusted training and consultancy provider and one of Myanmar's leading names in practical NGO training, with 1,200+ people trained and 15 partner organisations. Based in Yangon, we teach advocacy-ready skills such as effective communication and report writing in English and Burmese, online and in person across Myanmar. See our training topics or contact us.

Sources

• Guidance note on the participation of local actors in humanitarian coordination groups — Grand Bargain Localisation Workstream, 2020
• Consolidated recommendations for donors: EHF dialogue on enabling locally led response — Charter for Change, 2025
• Localisation through networks and collectives — Humanitarian Advisory Group, 2023