Together

15/04/2026

Desde los territorios también se lidera.

El mes pasado, en Colombia, firmamos el Acuerdo Nacional por la Localización, , un compromiso para que las organizaciones locales tengan más voz, más recursos y mayor participación en las decisiones que afectan a sus comunidades.

Porque quienes están más cerca de las realidades, también deben estar en el centro de las soluciones.



Asociación Salto Ángel
PCN-Proceso de Comunidades Negras en Colombia
Benposta Regional Llanos
Abiudea Uniatlantico Barranquilla
Pastoral Social - Cáritas Colombiana
NEAR

13/04/2026

Last month, at the 5th CSO Week 2026 in Addis Ababa, the ToGETHER Ethiopia Program hosted a high-level panel on advancing in practice. Under the theme “Bridging the Gap: Leveraging Peer Mentoring and Flexible Funding,” the discussion brought together over 40 representatives from international and national NGOs, CSO networks, and government institutions.

Key discussion points included:

➡️ Equitable representation: Under Proclamation No. 1386/2025, CSOs are now mandated members of the Disaster Risk Management Council, contributing to federal-level decision-making.

➡️ Flexible funding approaches: The importance of mechanisms such as the Humanitarian Operation and Innovation Facility (HOIFA) to enable adaptive and context-responsive programming.

➡️ Peer mentoring: Promoting horizontal knowledge exchange among local and national organizations to strengthen capacity, particularly in underserved regions.

➡️ Ethical talent management: Addressing talent retention within local organizations through more responsible recruitment practices.

The panel highlighted ongoing efforts to translate localization commitments into operational and concrete policy-level measures.

Afro Ethiopia Integrated Development-AEID
Action for Integrated Sustainable Development Association-AISDA
Afar Pastoralist Development Association (APDA)
CIFA Ethiopia
Wako Gutu Foundation
Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations Council

23/03/2026

🔎 Missed our sessions on peer mentoring?

During Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks 2026, ToGETHER hosted two sessions exploring how peer mentoring supports humanitarian action, with contributions from local partners across eight countries sharing experiences from practice.

The discussions looked at how locally led strengthens leadership, organizational capacity, and coordination, and how it can contribute to broader efforts.

We have now published an article capturing key reflections from both sessions.

👉 You can access the article, recordings, session summaries, and a short fact sheet on peer mentoring here: https://together-for-localisation.org/2026/03/22/advancing-localization-through-locally-led-peer-mentoring/

18/03/2026

🧐 How can aid stay relevant, legitimate and grounded in local leadership by 2040?

In Ethiopia, ToGETHER organized a workshop as part of IARAN’s “Future of Aid 2040 – Pathways to Transformation” process, helping ensure that local perspectives shape what comes next.

IARAN's second phase moves from foresight to action, bringing actors together through workshops and co-creation spaces to stress-test current ways of working against future scenarios and explore how they need to evolve.

ToGETHER's local and peer humanitarian partners from Ethiopia reflected on what it takes for local organisations to remain effective in a rapidly changing environment, from redefining value propositions to strengthening capacities, partnerships and roles within the wider aid ecosystem.

The workshop is part of a broader global process that brings together local, intermediary and enabling actors to co-design future-fit pathways, grounded in local leadership and real-world experience. The aim: to build on the scenarios developed in the first phase of the study and translate them into practical tools and guidance for transformation.

📝 Read the Phase 1 report and explore the scenarios here: https://iaran.org/future-of-aid

CIFA Ethiopia Afar Pastoralist Development Association (APDA) Afro Ethiopia Integrated Development-AEID Action for Integrated Sustainable Development Association-AISDA Wako Gutu Foundation

Explore how humanitarian aid will evolve by 2040 through IARAN’s strategic foresight scenarios. Discover key drivers, risks, and opportunities shaping global response systems, with insights for practitioners, donors, and policymakers.

12/03/2026

📍 We’re at !

ToGETHER is continuing the conversation in person in Geneva during the Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks.

👋 If you’re attending, come visit us at our stand, we’d love to connect and share more about how ToGETHER advances the agenda across eight countries.

🚨 We are opening our session “Reimagining Humanitarian Leadership: strengthening emergency response through ” to online participants as well!

📅 Today, 12 March 2026 | 4-5:30 pm CET
🔗 Join here: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/33803871045266?p=XD5terSjNqNFdgSfvj


Conafohd Rdcongo Asociación Salto Ángel Fast Rural Development Program

09/03/2026

📍 Join us this Thursday at

As part of Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week, ToGETHER is hosting an in-person exchange in Geneva on scaling peer mentoring for and system change.

📅12 March | 4–5.30 pm CET | Geneva

Building on last week’s online exchange, this interactive session will explore how peer mentoring can strengthen collaboration, coordination, and humanitarian action, while contributing to humanitarian system change in line with the .

Together with Exode Malengani (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Nazish Samo (Pakistan), Abdikafi Mohamud Ali (Somalia), Zaw Linn Oo (Myanmar) we’ll discuss practical ways to expand peer mentoring across contexts, creating a multiplier effect as strengthened organizations mentor others.

👉 Register here: https://vosocc.unocha.org/Report.aspx?page=o0t9pExuBwPAPn###plusdjyFmDs99vGDa0sYOgFWSCPmVZGc0uN8###plusHqxVig###equal###equal

ADSSE Centre for Peace and Democracy - CPD Fast Rural Development Program

26/02/2026

📣 It’s happening already on Monday!

As part of Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week ( ), ToGETHER is hosting an online exchange on how peer mentoring strengthens humanitarian action.

📅 2 March | 12–1 pm CET | Online

This session introduces the ToGETHER Program’s Peer Mentoring approach, sharing concrete evidence from 40 Local Humanitarian Partners in eight countries mentoring 130 Peer Humanitarian Partners.

Together with Exode Malengani (DR Congo), Martin Dennise Silaban (Indonesia), Andrés Boscán (Colombia), Dina Dina López (Colombia), Abu Murshed Chowdhury (Bangladesh), and Jannatul Mouwa (Bangladesh), we’ll explore how peer mentoring supports leadership development, organizational readiness, and collaboration and coordination that improve emergency response at community level - along with key lessons and challenges from practice.

👉 Register here: https://vosocc.unocha.org/Report.aspx?page=o0t9pExuBwPAPn###plusdjyFmDs99vGDa0sYO4YZ32spCi1eDnsDY1mY5sA###equal###equal



ADSSE Asociación Salto Ángel PHALS SHEEP Indonesia

27/01/2026

This March, the ToGETHER Program is taking part in the Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week with a two-session exchange on peer mentoring for humanitarian action.

📅 2 March | 12-1 pm CET | Online
The first session introduces the ToGETHER Program’s Peer Mentoring approach, sharing evidence from 40 Local Humanitarian Partners across eight countries who are mentoring 130 Peer Humanitarian Partners. We’ll explore how strengthens local leadership, organizational readiness, and coordination to improve emergency response at community level. The session will also highlight achievements to date, emerging challenges, and practical solutions.

📅 12 March | 4-5.30 pm CET | In-person (Geneva)
The second session builds on the online exchange with an interactive discussion exploring why peer mentoring is vital to , stronger collaboration and coordination, and the inclusive restructuring of the humanitarian system, as envisioned in the Humanitarian Reset.

👉 Register here to join the online session: https://vosocc.unocha.org/Report.aspx?page=o0t9pExuBwPAPn###plusdjyFmDs99vGDa0sYO4YZ32spCi1eDnsDY1mY5sA###equal###equal

👉 Register here to join the in-person session: https://vosocc.unocha.org/Report.aspx?page=o0t9pExuBwPAPn###plusdjyFmDs99vGDa0sYOgFWSCPmVZGc0uN8###plusHqxVig###equal###equal

If you’ll be joining in Geneva, come connect with us! 🤝

17/12/2025

💭 What does it really mean to shift power in humanitarian action?

At the Regional Humanitarian Partnership Week ( ) Asia Pacific 2025 in Bangkok, humanitarian actors from across the region came together to reflect on how aid systems must change in the face of growing crises, shrinking resources, and increasing calls for accountability.

ToGETHER contributed a session on "𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙋𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧: 𝙁𝙡𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙁𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙇𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙇𝙚𝙙 𝙃𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣," drawing on practical experiences from the Humanitarian Operation and Innovation Facility (HOIFA). Speakers from ToGETHER partner organizations in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Indonesia shared their experiences on what it takes to move beyond localization commitments and 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿-𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲.

Key reflections included:

▪️ What shifting decision-making power to local actors looks like in practice
▪️ Why flexibility and accountability are not opposites
▪️ How risk continues to be unevenly borne by local organizations
▪️ What is needed to scale locally led financing beyond pilot projects

We have captured key insights and reflections from the session in a new article on the ToGETHER website.

👉 Read the article here: https://together-for-localisation.org/2025/12/17/shifting-power-in-practice/



Centre for Disability in Development (CDD) Bangladesh SHEEP Indonesia Fast Rural Development Program

03/12/2025

Next week, ToGETHER will be at the Regional Humanitarian Partnership Week Asia Pacific in Bangkok | 8–10 Dec. This year’s theme, “Beyond Emergencies: Reframing Humanitarianism for a Changing World”, sets the scene for three days of exchange, learning, and practical ideas across the humanitarian–development–peace nexus.

📅 8 Dec | 16:30
We’re hosting “Shifting Power: Flexible Funding for Locally Led Humanitarian Action”

In this session we will cover how flexible funding mechanisms can actually put local actors in the driver’s seat, so they can set priorities, design responses, and lead delivery, while keeping strong accountability. We’ll share learning from HOIFA under the ToGETHER program, and hear directly from local partners in Asia on what’s working, what’s challenging, and what would help scale participatory funding models.

👉 Full programme: https://rhpwasiapacific.com/program-and-agenda

If you’ll be in Bangkok, come join us! 🤝

27/11/2025

💬 "What we wove was not just a network of collaboration,… it was a pact for life and dignity."

Following the South-South Exchange , held on July 21, 2025, we are pleased to share the official Declaration and full report.

The exchange brought together women-led organizations, human rights defenders, and grassroots leaders from Colombia, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mexico. Over one day of in-person and virtual dialogue in Bogotá, participants shared strategies for community-based humanitarian shelters, risk management, and advocacy, culminating in a collective commitment to shelters that not only protect, but also heal and transform.

📄 Read the Declaration and the full event report here: https://together-for-localisation.org/2025/08/22/south-south-exchange-on-networks-of-humanitarian-shelters-with-a-gender-perspective/