Localizing Development to the Grassroots: Potentials and Limits of Enaging with Community Groups

This IDOS policy brief, Localising Development to the Grassroots: Potentials and Limits of Engaging with Community Groups, provides fresh perspectives on the localisation of development aid to grassroots organisations. Drawing on a case study in Nakuru City, Kenya, the brief highlights that although directing aid to local actors is compelling both in terms of cost-effectiveness and moral reasoning, only 9.8% of DAC members’ official development assistance to civil society was channelled directly to partner-country civil society organisations.

In principle, localisation deserves stronger promotion. However, donors should be cautious, as civil society organisations and community groups are not democratically elected by their communities, and their levels of legitimacy vary.

IDOS suggests therefore different recommandations to donors communities such as investing more in public service, developing deeper knowledge of local actors and the power relations between them and supporting participatory governance structures at the local level.