Following the Grand Bargain Annual Meeting in Geneva on 19 and 20 June 2023, this Shabaka working paper explores the limitations of localisation in the humanitarian sector and challenges to its implementation. It also examines the role of diaspora humanitarians, who are already ‘doing’ localisation in many ways.  

Drawing on learning from the current Sudan crisis, we argue that localisation is being driven from below in Sudan by grassroots civil society groups and their diaspora partners, who provide lessons for the broader humanitarian sector from their experiences of forging and sustaining partnerships. 

This builds on the experiences of Sudanese diaspora, who have invested time, money, skills––and shared risks–– over the last ten years to build trust and relationships with grassroots civil society groups in the Sudan.