Seven Ingredients for Localisation

Donors often claim to support localisation, yet they overlook local realities. Cristi Nozawa, Director of the Samdhana Institute, offers a sharp reminder: without solidarity, activism, and justice, localisation risks becoming an empty slogan. In what she calls seven key ingredients; she sketches out what genuine change could look like.

When we speak with Nozawa via Teams, her backdrop is the garden of her farm in the Philippine countryside, about two hours from Manila. The setting is lush and serene—a fitting environment for someone who has devoted her life to protecting both nature and communities.

Nozawa began her journey in the 1980s as a young activist opposing dams and logging, later becoming an international voice for just and sustainable environmental management. Today, she leads the Samdhana Institute, which supports Indigenous Peoples and local communities across Southeast Asia in securing land rights, adapting to climate change, and preserving cultural heritage.

Her message to donors and Western NGOs is unambiguous: too often, the nuances of local contexts are ignored; communities are treated as if they are interchangeable; and Northern civil society organisations frequently claim to speak on behalf of communities in the South.

For this interview, Nozawa outlined seven ingredients and preconditions she sees as essential for anyone serious about localisation. Together, we walk through them one by one.

1. Solidarity

‘Localisation requires genuine solidarity between grassroots organisations, international civil society, and donors. It does not mean, in my view, that all development cooperation funds should automatically flow to the Global South. While most resources are indeed needed here, the problems we face cannot be solved only at the local level.

‘Many of our challenges have global causes. Without solidarity, the burden of finding solutions falls unfairly on local organisations—even though the North is largely responsible for issues like climate change.

‘That is why we must stand together with movements in the North that address the root causes of these problems within their own countries. Donors must not divide us by directing funds solely to Southern organisations while restricting Northern civil society groups from lobbying their own governments and corporations.

‘We also need organisations such as Both ENDS, ActionAid, and Friends of the Earth. They play a crucial role in holding the Dutch government accountable and pushing for systemic change. 

‘If the Netherlands chooses to support only local organisations, it shirks its global responsibility. It shifts the entire burden onto us and ignores its co-responsibility for a system that creates many of these problems in the first place.’

2. Activism and Social Movements  

‘Localisation also requires strong support for environmental and human rights defenders—organisations and individuals risking their lives on the frontlines of capitalist society, a system intrinsically tied to a global political economy driven by profit and led by elites.

‘This support is often missing because we are trapped in project cycles. Civil society organisations fall into the pitfall of adapting too much to this model: we draft five-year project plans, secure funding, and assume that by the end of the cycle, problems will be solved. In reality, much of our energy is spent on reporting to donors.

‘Yes, projects can deliver results, but they are usually short-term. For genuine, long-term transformation, we need social movements—movements that step outside the project framework and address the deeper, structural issues. Donor funding can address some problems in the short term, but deeper challenges require movements grounded in local support and collective action.

‘At Samdhana, we have always tried to look beyond project frameworks. We invested time in local fundraising and alternative forms of support to reduce dependency on donors. If you want to change the system, you must change perspectives—and that requires stepping outside the cycle of projects.

‘One urgent issue is the rights of Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines, who continue to face systemic discrimination. This is not a problem that fits within the confines of a project; it demands long-term activism and patient work to shift mindsets.

‘Unfortunately, donor appetite for funding activism and movements remains very limited. The best example was the Dutch government’s Dialogue and Dissent programme, the predecessor of Power of Voices. 

‘That programme genuinely supported critical voices and dissent. Today, as populist governments dominate discourse with superficial narratives, the need to fund and amplify critical voices is more urgent than ever.’

3. Contextualisation

‘A localisation-based approach also means grounding work in the specific needs and realities of local communities. Too often, Northern civil society organisations fail to dig deeply into local contexts in the South.

‘Take, for example, human rights abuses by a palm oil company in Asia. Northern NGOs may assume that the entire community opposes the company, while in reality, part of the community sees palm oil production as beneficial. Communities are rarely homogeneous—they can be divided, with competing interests shaped by survival, livelihoods, and opportunity.

‘We must recognise these nuances. At Samdhana, we grapple with such dilemmas ourselves. In some areas, many people support mining because it generates income that allows them to buy food or send their children to school. 

‘Meanwhile, we focus on the long-term environmental destruction it causes. Should we oppose these community members, even though their choice meets urgent, daily needs?

‘Every situation requires careful analysis. When Northern NGOs campaign, they often generalise, claiming to speak on behalf of ‘the community.’ Yet communities may be divided—or even unaware of the campaigns being waged in their name. 

‘The NO to REDD+ campaign is a case in point: presented as representing local communities, but in many cases, those very communities have no idea what the campaign is about.

‘Local realities are complex and tied to people’s daily struggles. That is why listening—really listening—to communities is essential. Too often, organisations claim to work ‘bottom-up’ or ‘*locally led.’ 

‘However, when communities disagree with what donors or NGOs believe should happen, suddenly the donor’s definition of ‘locally led’ prevails. Communities will always have diverse perspectives depending on their circumstances. We must not presume to speak on their behalf. Instead, we must immerse ourselves in their contexts.’

4. Systems Approach

‘The term systems approach has become fashionable in development cooperation. But if it is to be meaningfully linked to localisation, it must be applied differently.

‘Take the coffee value chain, a favourite among donors. The logic is straightforward: help local communities produce coffee that meets European standards for exporting and increase their income. Donors present this as a system change.

‘What is often overlooked is the unintended impact on food security. When communities shift production toward export crops like coffee, we have seen hidden hunger emerge because food crops are displaced. Supporting value chains may be popular with donors, but it does not necessarily equate to real system change.

‘True system change must ensure that local systems continue to thrive—the very systems Indigenous Peoples have relied on for survival for centuries. In agriculture, for example, local farmers may see seeds as belonging to the whole community, a worldview very different from the ownership models in Europe or the US. 

‘Even when working with value chains, it is essential to recognise the community’s own strengths first: understand what has worked in the past, and then integrate it with innovations for the future.

‘For me, system change also means flipping decision-making upside down. Communities themselves must lead. Yes, they may make mistakes at first, but they must be empowered to decide for themselves. Otherwise, system change will remain superficial.’

5. Local Capacity

‘Donors must also invest in the institutional development of their partners. This enables independence and builds sustainable organisations capable of raising their own funds and reducing dependency. If you finance a project, why not allocate thirty percent of the budget to institutional development? 

‘This way, they can genuinely strengthen themselves and grow into learning organisations. These resources could support a strategic plan, a communications strategy, or documenting lessons learned. Capacity development should be recognised as an essential part of every project.

‘It is equally important to strengthen grassroots organisations and communities. Many communities are not even registered because the concept of legal registration is unfamiliar to them. 

‘As a result, they miss out on opportunities, since they lack the paperwork to prove they exist as organisations—further marginalising them. Why should registration be a prerequisite for access to resources and capacity building?

‘If support is limited only to registered organisations, then the ambition of locally led development rings hollow. In practice, it becomes another form of top-down control.’

6. Ecosystem Approach  

‘In the humanitarian aid sector, much emphasis is placed on localisation. For example, humanitarian organisations may promote localisation in disaster risk reduction: they design campaigns and provide funds for local organisations and governments to develop activities that make communities more resilient to earthquakes or cyclones.

‘But what is often overlooked is that these same communities and local governments are also responsible for many other pressing issues beyond disaster preparedness. By earmarking funds solely for disaster reduction, donors place communities in a silo. The result is that problems are not addressed sustainably.

‘The underlying challenge is not just disaster risk—it is systemic inequality and injustice. These issues are inseparable from land rights, forest management, or rivers polluted by mining. 

‘If you fail to address the whole ecosystem of inequality and injustice, and instead focus narrowly on reducing disasters, you are missing the point. Small, isolated actions cannot solve structural problems. To be meaningful, always engage with the entire system that produces vulnerability in the first place.’

7. Justice

‘Everything ultimately comes down to justice. Localisation must confront unequal power relations and work toward fair solutions. You cannot simply support local groups in the South to adapt to climate change without also addressing the damage caused by the North in the first place.

‘Take the energy transition now underway in the North. How just is it if the South must supply the minerals for solar panels, or if local communities bear the burden of nickel mining needed for renewable energy in Europe and the US? 

‘Or if hydropower plants for the North’s transition flood entire villages, displacing people from their land? Localisation that ignores these deeper questions of justice risks becoming shallow and incomplete.’

The localisation dish is ready, prepared with seven ingredients. Nozawa hopes it will be served soon. In a world marked by polarisation, wars, rising autocratic leaders, and attacks on civil society, she still chooses optimism. She believes these crises can spark new solidarity between well-meaning people in the North and South.

‘I tell colleagues and friends in the US that they are now experiencing the repression we have lived with for decades,’ she says. ‘These developments remind us how far we still are from a just world. 

‘But that discomfort, now felt for the first time in the US and some European countries, can give us new energy. It forces us to recognise what is broken in the world—and pushes us to imagine solutions we can pursue together.’

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Since 2003, the Samdhana Institute has worked across Southeast Asia to strengthen Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Based in the Philippines, the organisation supports them in securing land rights, managing natural resources sustainably, and responding to the impacts of climate change. Its work is rooted in the values of justice, diversity, and inclusion—principles translated into direct, small-scale support and training with communities themselves.

At the helm is Cristi Nozawa, a veteran of the Philippines’ environmental and human rights movement. She first made her name campaigning against large-scale logging and dam projects, and later held international leadership roles at organisations such as BirdLife International. Today, she is a strong advocate for financing that flows directly into the hands of local communities, enabling them to decide for themselves how their lands, resources, and futures are protected.

Samdhana is also a member of the Fair, Green & Global Alliance, co-financed through the Dutch government’s *Power of Voices partnership, which advocates worldwide for just and sustainable change.