A Sector in Flux
This webinar came at a moment in which the international development landscape is undergoing rapid and profound change. Some of the trends, shifts and symptoms that were identified by the participants include:
- Reduced budgets and donor retreat from long-term commitments, including in traditional donor countries like the Netherlands. Signalled by self-interest, competition and survival of organisations, and deprioritisation of other agendas.
- Shrinking civic space, with civil society facing growing restrictions and authoritarian pushback.
- Calls for localisation and decolonisation, as partners across the Global South demand more equitable, locally led approaches. With a clear demand for systemic transformation and the risk of ‘fake localisation’.
(Understanding) How we respond to these shifts now will inform the strategic decisions we make about the future of this sector. Based on the recent paper “Improving or re-imagining?” from the Radboud University, we asked participants to self-position themselves along the axis sense of urgency (reactive/vs proactive) and transformative impact (current system vs. Transformation). The responses balanced mainly between adapting and transforming.
During the webinar, the different speakers also shared how they and their organisations are responding to the shifts in the landscape and how they see the future role(s) of INGOs. The speakers were:
- Cathy Amenya, Program Manager at the Movement for Community-Led Development (MCLD)
- Frank Kasonga, Executive Director of Mudzi Connect
- Marjolijn Wilmink, co-director of MAX Foundation
- Lori Cajegas, programme coordinator at Wilde Ganzen
Throughout their contributions, a resounding message emerged: this is not just about improving existing models but about fundamentally transforming how international cooperation is imagined and practiced.
Global Majority perspectives
From a majority world perspective, we heard a clear call for dignity, autonomy, and direct access to resources. Both Cathy and Frank emphasized that communities are not waiting to be saved; they are shaping their own solutions and demanding recognition of their knowledge, leadership, and agency. They don’t need charity, but investment. The problem with the current system is that it is trapped in service delivery mode, and this will always keep communities dependent on aid. Speakers emphasized the importance of building community resilience through long-term, flexible funding and empowered local organising. Investments should go beyond service delivery to fund resilient and sustainable systems and relationships.
As an example, Frank Kasonga explains that community-led organisations are already shifting gears to a model of local community investment, where communities identify and invest in their own solutions, and attract co-investors to reach scale and impact.
INGOs can play a transitional role in this, but that role must be reimagined. As summarized by Cathy Amenya: “The question isn’t whether INGOs will survive. It’s whether they will help us thrive without them.”
New Roles for INGOs
Keeping these demands in mind, the speakers and participants identified a number of roles that INGOs can play to support this transformation of the international cooperation system:
From Implementers to Facilitators
- INGOs should shift their focus from service delivery to enabling community-led development and local decision-making.
Resource Mobilisers and De-Risking
- Support communities to access and manage funding, fill knowledge gaps, and de-risk innovative local approaches, by testing and refining solutions before wider local adoption.
- Help communities to build investment muscle so they can generate and steward wealth on their own.
- Support in building local evidence and strategies for scale.
Relationship and Knowledge Brokers
- Leverage INGOs’ networks to connect global and local actors, build bridges, and share learning across regions.
- Democratize data: Help create locally governed data platforms so communities can monitor and influence policies.
Advocates and Allies
- Use privileged access to donors and global institutions to amplify majority world voices, rather than speaking on their behalf, and to shift donor mindsets towards transforming funding models.
- Use position to influence your national government and private sector for equitable, just and coherent policies (f.e. Tax & Climate Justice)
Temporary Catalysts
- Accept that their role is to accelerate the transition to local autonomy. INGOs play an important role in this transition, but ultimately, success means helping to create the conditions in which they themselves are no longer needed.
“ I fully recognize the dilemma that we, as international Ngos are in. There’s a very human and organisational instinct for self preservation, and that is understandable. But what I miss in the debate so far is a more fundamental reflection on how aid has to be reorganised.” –Marjolijn Wilmink, Max Foundation
What can INGOs do now?
For INGOs navigating this moment of transformation, our panellists had the following advice:
- Mindset shift: Invite your organisation in deeper reflections about the role, and what shifts in mindsets are necessary to move from aid charity to local agency.
- Revisit your mission: Are you still meeting your goal? Are you still delivering what you set out to deliver? And who does it benefit – what does it lead to?
- Listen to the demands of communities: Start creating spaces to listen to the realities needs, and response of involved partners and communities to these shifts.
- Redesign partnerships: Move toward deeper, long-term collaborations built on trust, not control. Even if temporary, in transition to autonomy.
- Advocate upward: Use your access to challenge and educate donors about the need for flexible, equitable funding structures.
- Practice transition: From the start of any engagement, plan for local ownership and your own exit.
- Be radically accountable: Not just to funders, but to the communities you work with. Ask them regularly whether you are still doing the right thing and if your role is still needed.
If there was one shared sentiment that carried through the discussion, it was this: the time for transformation is now. This requires honest conversations and critical self-reflection by everyone in the system, to let go of power, reimagine our roles, and follow the leadership of those closest to the challenges.
This is part of Partos ongoing work to accelerate a power shift and explore alternative ways of working. Check out our resources for more relevant tools, publications and blogs on Shifting Power & New Ways of Collaborating and Diversity Equity Inclusion and Racial Justice.