Credit: CAPAIDS Uganda

By Naomi Ayot Oyaro and Tais Siqueira
KAMPALA Uganda / SORIA Spain, Jul 31 2025 (IPS)

In Uganda, local communities are routinely sidelined in development processes, despite knowing most about their own needs. When a Moroto District officer remarked, ‘This is the first time local leaders were truly heard’, it offered a powerful reminder of what so often goes wrong: development fails when communities are excluded.

At CAPAIDS, in partnership with CIVICUS, we have had the opportunity to engage local actors countrywide to undertake collective analyses of what is going well and not so well in development, and articulate key asks. Under the initial phase of our project, we organised intentional and safe spaces for over 200 local and national actors and local government representatives in all seven regions of Uganda.

Following these conversations, it’s time for us to reflect.

Challenges to locally led development

Our discussions took place in a landscape where current development approaches favour global north actors and large national organisations, often at the expense of local communities. Like their counterparts across the country, people from Western Uganda shared their experiences of historical exclusion and expressed hope for more meaningful opportunities to engage in shaping locally led development.

In most cases, local actors lack direct access to donors and instead interact with intermediaries, who they often perceive as donors. During consultations, they raised concerns about potential exploitation by intermediaries and national actors based in the capital. A key issue highlighted was that they may be included in co-design processes for funding proposals, only to find themselves excluded from implementation.

Participants also identified activity budget-based partnerships as exploitative. In these arrangements, intermediaries or international non-government organisations (INGOs) contract local actors on a strictly activity-based funding model, where funds are released per activity and reports are required for each task, without providing overhead funding for local organisations. As a result, local actors effectively become project officers rather than genuine development partners. This approach, while common, does little to foster the growth of local organisations and instead reduces them to mere budget disbursement channels, ultimately limiting their sustainability and independence. For example, several organisations reported being involved in large-scale donor-funded projects but being unable to cover their operational costs, making long-term impact and institutional growth almost impossible.

Additionally, consultations revealed the existence of numerous sub-national civil society and human rights networks that remain underutilised. To prevent siloed approaches, development actors should work through these established networks instead of bypassing them. However, intermediaries and INGOs frequently overlook these networks and instead directly select local partners, reinforcing fragmentation. The exclusion of diverse civil society voices and the absence of mechanisms to build geographical and thematic synergy among organisations are clear shortfalls of the current aid ecosystem. It’s essential these challenges are addressed to help build a meaningful and transformative locally led development framework.

People in Southwestern Uganda identified key barriers to locally led development, with limited funding (identified by 40 per cent) the most significant challenge, as restrictive donor conditions and a lack of direct funding hinder sustainability. Constrained civic space (20 per cent) further limits operations due to government-imposed restrictions. Capacity gaps (15 per cent) limit the ability of local civil society organisations (CSOs), including grassroots bodies, to engage effectively in donor planning and project implementation. Regulatory and compliance issues (15 per cent) create bureaucratic hurdles, making it difficult for local CSOs to operate. Competition from international organisations registered as local CSOs (10 per cent) reduces funding opportunities, while poor donor-local CSO relationships exacerbate the issue. Meanwhile top-down planning (5 per cent) results in interventions that fail to address local needs due to limited community input. These are important challenges to address.

From local to global

The challenges in Uganda aren’t isolated ones. Across the globe, local actors face similar systematic struggles in accessing funding, engaging in decision-making and leading solutions-building.

The global development ecosystem is increasingly recognising the need for change. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recommendation on enabling civil society (2021) and Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation have said as much, while recently and despite major cutbacks, the Dutch government stated that it will continue ‘providing aid to people in crisis situations via local aid organisations, as they are able to respond swiftly and effectively in crises’, highlighting a growing awareness that development must be led by those closest to the issues.

There’s been a surge in commitments from funders to support locally led development. Initiatives such as the Grand Bargain 3.0 and Donor Statement on Locally Led Development, albeit championed by the now-extinguished USAID, have set ambitious goals to support local actors. However, these pledges aren’t always leading to tangible actions. A study by Publish What You Fund reveals that four out of five OECD donors lack clear locally led development strategies, definitions, or measurable targets, hindering accountability and progress.

To truly advance locally led development, there must be a systemic change – in Uganda, and globally. Funders and policymakers must intentionally ensure meaningful participation by local actors in decision-making spaces, integrate locally led development into democracy support frameworks and provide accessible, flexible and high-quality funding that allows communities to define their own priorities. Transparency and accountability are also essential: progress must be assessed collectively with local actors to ensure commitments translate into tangible and meaningful change.

Local communities engaged in change across Uganda made eight recommendations to move from pledges to tangible solutions and actions:

1. Enable full participation, co-leadership and leadership of local communities in coordination mechanisms and programming and policy spaces. This includes the inclusion of local actors and communities in processes on locally led development to build synergy and alignment on key terminology and processes. Community-centred development approaches must be preferred over external expert models.

2. Prioritise radical inclusion. Funding should be directed toward excluded groups, including people with disabilities, women-led organisations and other marginalised communities.

3. Utilise existing local platforms. Donors and INGOs should work through local networks rather than creating parallel structures.

4. Invest inclusively in organisational capacity strengthening, recognising the diversity of civil society. Capacity must be co-developed with local communities based on their contexts and needs, to ensure it brings agency, autonomy, growth and development for local civil society, contributing to sustainability and synergy. Avoid project-based interventions.

5. Advocate for policy shifts. The government of Uganda should focus on policy review and changes to enable locally led initiatives to thrive, including by funding local actors, coalitions and networks.

6. Ensure transparency and accountability. Donors and intermediaries must be held accountable to help promote quantity, quality and data transparency of local funding.

7. Share risks. Development partnerships must be designed so risk is shared among partners, including donors and national and local actors. Risks should not be transferred to the local level.

8. Practise zero tolerance for corruption and resource grabbing. Transparent mechanisms of accountability should be developed in co-creation with local actors, and any abusers of the system must be held to account. Local actors in Uganda presented a case where they exposed potential fraud and instead of proper investigations being done the partnership was terminated.

Championing local actors to be the driving force in their own progress is the way forward, not just in Uganda, but everywhere the path is clear: shift power, resources and trust to local leaders. The question for funders should no longer why, but how fast?

Naomi Ayot Oyaro is Executive Director of CAPAIDS Uganda. Taís Siqueira is Local Leadership Lab Coordinator at CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. CAPAIDS Uganda is in partnership with CIVICUS on the Local Leadership Labs Project as the National Convening Partner in Uganda.

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The slashing of US aid funding by Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and cuts or planned cuts in international support by several European states, threaten to cut off the oxygen supply to a civil society already in a critical condition. At CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance, activists and grassroots groups have shared with us time and again that shifting and volatile donor priorities are one of the top funding challenges they face, alongside limited resources for strategy and restricted funding.

Tais Siqueira

This is a critical moment for philanthropy to step up and put locally led development principles into practice. This means channelling more resources directly to local civil society, advocating for the meaningful participation of a diverse local civil society in policy spaces at all levels, ensuring their financial, legal and security resilience, and reimagining the role of philanthropy as being not just a funder, but an investor, catalyser and collaborator. As a starting point, philanthropic funders should do the following.

1. Commit to immediate, flexible, and sustained financial support

Local civil society is on the frontlines of addressing some of the world’s most pressing issues. Yet it’s often the first to feel the impact of funding disruptions. Philanthropy must act quickly to provide immediate, flexible and emergency grants to help local organisations survive funding gaps, including by increasing flexibility in existing grants to allow for operational reallocation to cover urgent needs, such as security-related expenses, salaries and insurance.

Unrestricted funding is also critical. Local groups need autonomy to allocate resources where they’re most needed, including for financial, legal and digital protection. Philanthropic funders should prioritise high-quality support – funding that is flexible, predictable and for core work – to support local civil society’s agency and autonomy and avoid orientation around donor priorities. Philanthropy must recognise that trust in local leadership is both the right and strategic thing to do.

2. Strengthen local civil society’s governance through collaboration and promote trust and support

Local leadership isn’t just about financial support; it’s about co-creating the systems and structures that enable local groups to thrive. Philanthropy can play a pivotal role in supporting local groups to strengthen their governance, risk management and compliance systems by fostering collaboration and innovation rather than imposing external standards. Support should be tailored, context specific and co-designed.

One key step is providing direct support to local groups to develop systems that prioritise accountability while trusting them to manage resources. This requires funders to move away from overly prescriptive conditions and toward models of support that acknowledge the leadership and agency of local civil society.

Philanthropy must also recognise that compelling narratives and ambitious policies are needed to stimulate trust and support local civil society. Progressive philanthropic funders can encourage others to follow suit.

3. Invest in infrastructure enabling diverse local civil society groups to collectively organise, share resources and strengthen resilience

In an increasingly interconnected world, the ability of local civil society groups to connect, collaborate and share resources is more important than ever. Investments in infrastructure can enable civil society to bravely defend and promote civic freedoms. Investment will facilitate collective influencing and knowledge-sharing networks, ensuring organisations are better prepared for further funding instability.

Philanthropic funders can earmark funds for emergency response, including for legal defence, audits and unforeseen security threats. Security in the digital sphere is also a critical need, and support can be provided for digital communications infrastructure, encrypted platforms and security audits.

Support for protection of civic space and promotion of civil society participation in decision-making will help enable strategic resistance against rollbacks of hard-won rights and gender, racial and social justice gains.

It’s also crucial to recognise that progressive local civil society groups and leaders are key enablers of locally led development and strengthen civil society’s support infrastructure. Investments in these infrastructures ensure that local groups have the necessary space, resources, agency and autonomy to shape and implement solutions that best fit their contexts.

CIVICUS’s Local Leadership Labs initiative addresses the political, technical and behavioural barriers that hinder governments, donors and other stakeholders from fully embracing and resourcing diverse civil society groups as legitimate participants in development. These labs support radically inclusive spaces, where local civil society groups can drive the development of policies and solutions, together with decision-makers and other key players. This cultivates spaces for collaboration, allowing diverse civil society groups and multi-stakeholder initiatives to share knowledge, reflect and strategise together.

A call to reaffirm commitment to locally led development

Philanthropic funders have unique convening authority, networks and partnerships that can be leveraged to advocate for locally led development. This isn’t just about funding; it’s about using influence to shift narratives and create an enabling environment where local civil society can thrive. Philanthropist must publicly reaffirm their commitment to the Donor Statement on Supporting Locally-Led Development and take real steps to put these principles into action.

The challenges are immense, but so too are the opportunities. By fostering an environment where local civil society has the resources, autonomy and trust to lead, philanthropy can move beyond financial transactions and become a transformative partner.

Tais Siqueira is Coordinator of CIVICUS’s Local Leadership Lab

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