Is Locally-Led Development Losing Momentum? Reflections from the RINGO Connect Special Meeting, April 2026

Are we tru­ly shift­ing pow­er or is the sys­tem sim­ply learn­ing to speak our lan­guage with­out chang­ing its core?

In the recent RINGO Con­nect Spe­cial Meet­ing on 29th April 2026, one mes­sage came through clear­ly: civ­il soci­ety, as we know it today, may not exist in the next decade unless we move beyond sur­face-lev­el fix­es and con­front the sys­tem more hon­est­ly.

At a time when glob­al fund­ing is tight­en­ing and insti­tu­tion­al pres­sures are increas­ing, there is a grow­ing sense of sys­tem push­back. Local­i­sa­tion risks becom­ing a strat­e­gy for sur­vival rather than a path­way for real trans­for­ma­tion.

Click here the zoom chat and resources shared dur­ing the ses­sion

Provocations from across civil society

We invit­ed three guest speak­ers to share per­spec­tives from where they sit in the sys­tem: Nour Nus­seibeh (Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Dalia Asso­ci­a­tion); Beth­le­hem Mengis­tu (Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Agen­da for Change); and Tania Che­ung (Head of Shift­ing the Pow­er Pro­gramme, Com­ic Relief). 

Here are three key reflec­tions from their provo­ca­tions:

1. The Pow­er of Say­ing “No”

Nour Nus­seibeh remind­ed us that local­ly-led devel­op­ment is not just an aspi­ra­tion, it is a deci­sion. Com­mu­ni­ty pow­er begins when organ­i­sa­tions can say no to fund­ing that comes with con­di­tions that dis­tort local pri­or­i­ties. This is where agency becomes real, not when we receive resources, but when we can choose how and whether to use them. 

“Local­ly-led devel­op­ment is reclaim­ing agency over resources, where com­mu­ni­ties design and man­age their own pri­or­i­ties. This cre­ates space for grass­roots and cul­tur­al­ly root­ed ini­tia­tives that are often over­looked by the tra­di­tion­al aid sys­tem.” Nour Nus­seibeh (Dalia Asso­ci­a­tion)

Nour also empha­sised the impor­tance of a sys­tem that is based on trust to ensure devel­op­ment is durable and sus­tain­able.

2. Lan­guage is Mov­ing Faster Than Real­i­ty

Beth­le­hem Mengis­tu offered a sober­ing truth: the lan­guage of local­i­sa­tion has evolved, but the sys­tem has not kept pace. We often con­fuse decen­tral­i­sa­tion with gen­uine pow­er shift. If deci­sion-mak­ing and resource con­trol remain unchanged, then lit­tle has actu­al­ly shift­ed. True local­i­sa­tion requires insti­tu­tions to become inten­tion­al­ly and uncom­fort­ably less cen­tral.

“Local­i­sa­tion is being pur­sued both as a path­way to trans­for­ma­tion, but also as a strat­e­gy for sur­vival… The ques­tion we need to sit with is: Are we local­is­ing to change the sys­tem, or remain in it?” (Beth­le­hem Mengis­tu, Agen­da for Change)

3. Pow­er is More Than Mon­ey

Tania Che­ung pushed us to think beyond finan­cial flows. Who defines the ideas? Who shapes the nar­ra­tives? Who tells the sto­ry? If pro­grammes are still designed exter­nal­ly, then trans­fer­ring funds alone will not change the sys­tem. Pow­er must also shift at the lev­el of ideas and sto­ry­telling.

“What kind of pow­er do we mean? Finan­cial pow­er  often receives the most atten­tion, because it’s eas­i­est to mea­sure, but also deci­sion-mak­ing pow­er, ideation pow­er, nar­ra­tive pow­er.”  (Tania Che­ung, Com­ic Relief)

Emerging Themes

Par­tic­i­pants split into break­out groups to reflect on what this moment real­ly means for us, wher­ev­er we sit in the sys­tem. Click here for a sum­ma­ry of the dis­cus­sion notes

Getting Practical

Back in ple­nary, we shared what we can do prac­ti­cal­ly to keep local­ly-led devel­op­ment on the agen­da:

• Mod­els for local­ly-led devel­op­ment exist and the prac­tice is being built: for exam­ple, the Reverse Call for Pro­pos­als  
• Influ­ence and shape the nar­ra­tive: show that more equi­table ways of work­ing are pos­si­ble
• Move from rhetoric to prac­tice: we need to walk the talk
• Col­lec­tive action: cre­ate con­nec­tions and share prac­tices with like-mind­ed organ­i­sa­tions 
• Shift­ing the pow­er is a two way rela­tion­ship: it involves peo­ple let­ting go of pow­er AND peo­ple tak­ing up the oppor­tu­ni­ty to run with pow­er
• Explore how civ­il soci­ety in the Major­i­ty World can direct­ly con­trol the funds made avail­able for civ­il soci­ety. If we do not come up with fund­ing streams that can be con­trolled and pri­ori­tised by major­i­ty world CSOs first, we will not be able to change the sys­tem and the dynam­ics.

Call to Action

This was not just anoth­er dis­cus­sion, it is a call to move from reflec­tion to reor­gan­i­sa­tion.

“Let’s ago­nise less and organ­ise more!” (Beth­le­hem Mengis­tu, Agen­da for Change)

In our next RINGO Con­nect ses­sion on Wednes­day 24th June, we will con­tin­ue this theme and shift our focus to the ‘solu­tion­ing’: how do we over­come these bar­ri­ers or turn them into oppor­tu­ni­ties?

Click here to join the RINGO Con­nect on Wednes­day 24th June