When Local Truth Meets Global Rhetoric: A Ukrainian Humanitarian Speaks

As the humanitarian system undergoes its "reset" with promises of local leadership and devolved power, I wanted to share a perspective from someone actually living this reality. Anna Rollmann is Program Coordinator at Dobra Fabryka Ukraina, a local humanitarian organization operating 16km from active combat, managing partnerships with over 100 organizations while serving communities that never had the privilege to leave. She's also part of our informal cash practitioner WhatsApp group where we discuss what's really happening beyond the official narratives.

When international agencies hit "pause" during the USAID freeze, Dobra Fabryka continued operations. When missiles struck and children were killed, they delivered emergency support to grieving families - not because a cluster approved it, but because their government and communities demanded it. As volunteers. With no budget. With no international partner answering the phone.

Anna's piece challenges the comfortable assumption that localization is simply about capacity building or funding quotas. She argues that local NGOs aren't waiting to be empowered - they're already operating under quadruple accountability that international actors can't imagine. The question is whether the humanitarian system is ready to recognize this reality.

Over to Anna.

Recalibrating localisation: counterbalancing politics for people-centered interventions
by Anna Rollmann

In a recent informal discussion with colleagues involved in humanitarian cash response, a poignant question was raised: "Why would anyone on a local contract, actually in tune with people’s needs, be interested in learning and dealing with humanitarian bureaucracy that could be failing failing while being paid a local salary?" What followed was a frank exchange that echoed a common sentiment: that the current humanitarian system isn't designed to give local NGOs or national staff a fair shot at genuine leadership. And yet, as a local humanitarian organisation working in Ukraine, I disagreed—because I believe that local NGOs are not just part of the solution, they are the solution if we want real transition and sustainability – the one that is not a tick in the box on a circulated paper, but the one that works in practice.

What the international humanitarian system often overlooks is that local NGOs are already deeply embedded in a bureaucratic and political environment – not of the UN or donor states, but of their own governments. We are constantly working within national legal and tax frameworks, facing direct pressure from authorities, and remaining accountable to the people we serve – with a very simple motivator, if we don’t we lose non-profit status and can’t work anymore. Our obligation and responsibility is not written in yet another protocol, adherence to which could be a subject of consideration, our obliagation and responsibiltiy is written in black and white in the national Tax Code, in the national Law on humanitarian assistance, which we MUST follow. It is this local embeddedness that makes us uniquely positioned to act as both an implementer and a counterbalance. This quadruple responsibility—to our beneficiaries – to our staff - to our government and to our donors—is not a burden, it is our greatest added value.

Let me offer a recent example: during a funding freeze triggered by the USAID suspension INGOs and UN agencies halted operations. For many, this meant operations simply "paused." But for local NGOs, the government did not accept "stop orders" as an excuse. We had committed, at regional and municipal levels, to provide emergency assistance. And when missile strikes hit and children were killed, we were expected to be there—to provide emergency support to grieving families. We delivered. As volunteers. With no budget, no cluster approvals, and no international partner answering the phone. This is the responsibility we live with. This is what it means to be truly accountable.

Yet, when it comes to co-leadership or cluster engagement, local actors are often treated as symbolic participants. Ministers meet with INGO country directors and UN heads, not with us. When local NGOs are included, it's often a few large implementing partners heavily influenced by donor priorities. So the idea that simply adding a quota for local NGO co-leads will fix the problem is flawed. Not all local NGOs are the same. But selecting a capable, relatively independent (through various funding sources) local NGO to co-lead provides something profoundly important: a working, practical mechanism to align humanitarian and government systems, grounded in real-time realities and needs of the communities local NGOs are representing.

We also believe it is time to entrust local NGOs with the ability to choose who they work with. The current system—often shaped by last-minute calls for proposals issued by INGOs to fulfill project deliverables—undermines trust, unity, and collaboration. Instead of encouraging strategic, sustainable partnerships, it forces local NGOs into a scramble for funding, creating a hunger games cycle that leaves many sidelined and fatigued.

We would rather collaborate than compete. No local NGO will choose to work with unreliable partners—there is simply too much at stake for us. Allowing us to delegate even a small portion of project activities to trusted local peers—after the grant is secured—would lead to immediate improvements in impact, and alignment. It would also create an organic and informed pipeline for selecting potential cluster co-leads, based not on theory or formality, but on proven leadership and results.

We strongly believe, that this shift would enable local networks to grow stronger from within, build solidarity across the response, and bring an end to the zero-sum mindset that has plagued so many otherwise promising interventions, while delivering in real life neutrality, independence, impartiality we are all asked of.

If the international humanitarian community truly wants a "transition" or “alignment with Social Protection” it must stop searching for a mythical exit strategy and start listening to those who never had the privilege to leave. The Grail is already here. It’s local. And it's working.

Anna Rollmann is Program Coordinator of Dobra Fabryka Ukraina, a local humanitarian organisation operating in frontline regions of Ukraine.