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CELEBRATING OUR PROGRESS TOWARDS LOCALIZATION AND EQUITABLE PARTNERSHIPS

Written by Cat-Dan Lai-Smith, SCUS Localization Team, Program Quality and Impact

As we approach the end of the year it is a fitting time to reflect on Save the Children’s (SC) progress towards localization and equitable partnerships. Because no matter what methods we employ to gauge our progress, the most important feedback should come from local and national partners themselves. This year, we gained a clearer picture of our progress based on multiple external sources that indicated SC as one of the leading international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) when it comes to supporting equitable partnerships.

For example, Unlock Aid released a ¹  in October 2024 that sought inputs from local and national actors (L/NAs) on the practices of major international primes – including SC – rating them across the following three categories:

• Transparency and open communication
• Fairness, genuine collaboration, and respect
• Trustworthiness and commitment to accountability

It was promising and encouraging to see that ��ɫ��Ƶranked third in terms of the likelihood for L/NAs to recommend us as their partner of choice. However, we faired more middle-of-the-road when assessed on the three categories above. This disconnect is something we aim to understand better but likely indicates that local actors’ decisions on partnerships of choice encompass more than the three areas assessed by Unlock Aid.

These recent results resonate with a 2023 ² by CARITAS that ranked 20 bilateral donors, UN agencies and international NGOS based on the quality of their commitments to supporting local humanitarian organizations. These findings included data on Save the Children, stating that national organizations perceived us to be the leading actor in this space among INGO and UN agency peers.

Additionally, it is promising to see that SC trails only UNICEF based on how we “equitably engage with local stakeholders and partners³” reported in a 2023 Devex survey of 969 respondents representing donors, UN agencies and peer INGOs. A measure that shows that an organization’s ability to deliver localized approaches was the top reported consideration for building new partnerships.

Finally, we also feel positive about the results of the Keystone Partnership Survey that measures an organization’s effectiveness based on anonymous feedback from partners. While we had experienced some slight regression in key data points over the last several years, 2024 results indicate a markedly positive increase in how local and national partners perceive their relationships with Save the Children. Some positive takeaways include the following:

• 74% of respondents reported feeling like equal partners with SC – a jump from 67% in 2023 and matching our high-water mark in 2022;
• With the exception of Overall Experience and Funds for Monitoring, all categories scored their highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) rating recorded in the four years this survey has been conducted (NPS ranking scores with those of other donors/INGO partners that L/NAs work with;
• Most NPS ratings above the ‘Good’ threshold of 10 – in some cases, significantly above.

While we are happy SC is considered among the top international partners of choice for local actors, we recognize we still have a long way to go to work more equitably and intentionally with them. These reports and results show the existing gap between commitments and practice, which is a fair summary of where the development and humanitarian sectors are collectively in terms of making localization a reality. Gaps aside, these results give us confidence that our investments in the advancement of localized approaches and ways of working are paying off – and being recognized by our peers and partners.

We are grateful to everyone who has contributed to all the amazing efforts to get us to this point and to celebrate this recognition of our work thus far. We look forward to continuing on our journey to shift power, improve equitable partnerships and fulfil more of our localization goals as we begin 2025.

For more information about SC’s localization efforts, please visit Localization at Save the Children or reach out to Will von Schrader or Cat-Dan Lai-Smith on the Localization Team at [email protected].