The OECD Guidelines
In May, the OECD published its Guidelines for Supporting Locally Led Development (LLD), setting out a roadmap for DAC donors to strengthen local agency, rebalance power, and foster more equitable partnerships. The guidelines challenge development actors to reflect on how existing systems can evolve, where new approaches can be tested, and how collective action can better respond to local actors’ calls for greater ownership and decision-making power.
The Call to Action
This comes at a critical moment. As Official Development Assistance (ODA) faces increasing pressure and shrinking budgets, there is a growing need to ensure that available resources are used in ways that support sustainable, locally driven change. Against this backdrop, the Call to Action was established to move the conversation on locally led development beyond commitments and declarations, and towards meaningful implementation.
The Call to Action calls on governments, private foundations, INGOs, and other development partners to embed the OECD Guidelines into their policies, programmes, and partnerships. This means recognising local actors as co-decision-makers, providing more flexible, long-term and predictable funding, and redefining international actors as enablers of local leadership.
This Hybrid Event
Together, Partos, Peace Direct and The Hague Humanity Hub are convening a discussion about what this Call to Action means for the Dutch development landscape. Looking at how to close the gap between commitment and implementation. The session will feature a keynote on the OECD Guidelines and an introduction to the Call to Action. This will be followed by a panel discussion bringing together Dutch signatories of the Call to Action and other development partners to discuss practical ways of advancing locally led development and exploring ways of monitoring the commitments.
More details on speakers will follow soon.