Anchored in Local Reality: Case Studies on Local Humanitarian Action from Haiti, Colombia, and Iraq

Critiques of international humanitarian action have suggested that it needs to be more inclusive of actors from crisis-affected countries. Increased attention to this issue has led to a set of agendas often referred to as the localization of humanitarian assistance, local humanitarian leadership (LHL), and local humanitarian action (LHA). However, there is little consensus about key definitions and concepts related to these terms. 

This paper challenges the way that the localization agendas are spoken about, as well as the dichotomy between local and international humanitarian action.