The Forum on Localizing Response to Humanitarian Need was held on Oct 16-19 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Forum was organized as a follow on from the World Humanitarian Summit, responding to and reinforcing the localization of aid/Grand Bargain discussions, and designed to produce a body of evidence on questions of HOW to engage local faith actors, and actions to scale up their engagement as local partners.
142 people from 36 countries (see attendees) assembled to learn from Sri Lankan religious leaders and FBOs and from each other about local faith engagement in humanitarian response, and to discuss how to scale up engagement. About 40 local actors received a subsidy to attend.
The Forum would not have been possible without –
Our funders: GHR Foundation, USAID, World Vision International, Adventist Relief and Development, Church of Sweden, KAICIID, Islamic Relief USA, Episcopal Relief and Development, Soka Gakkai International, Finn Church Aid, Religions for Peace, World Evangelical Alliance;
Local Host Committee: Ven. Banagala Upatissa Thero (Co-Chair), Rev. Ebenezer Joseph (Co-Chair), Faizer Khan (Muslim Aid SL), Firzan Hashim (APAD SL), Dr. M. Saleem, Nagulan Nessiah (Episcopal Relief & Development, Kavitha Vijayaraj (Sarvodaya), Urmila Selvanayagam (World Vision SL) ; The International Planning Committee: ACT Alliance, Anglican Communion, Cadena, Finn Church Aid, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities, Network of Religious and Traditional Leaders, Muslim Aid, Muslim Charities Forum, Partnership for Faith and Development, Religions for Peace, Soka Gakkai International, Tearfund, World Council of Churches, World Evangelical Alliance, World Vision International ;
Partnership for Faith and Development: Jean Duff, Aeysha Chaudry and Cassandra Lawrence
Local Coordinating Team: Kevin de Silva (Bini Solutionz), Saabira Mohideen, Shevandra Wijemanne, Zainab Ismail, Nafli Mufthi, Sasmini Bandara, Rehana Dole and Vinu Wijemanna.
The brief summary report was published on 24th October 2017 as an immediate summary upon conclusion of the Forum. Initial BRIEF SUMMARY REPORT
Click here for the CALL TO ACTION – To Scale up Local Faith Actors’ Roles in Humanitarian Response
The Full Summary Report on Forum Proceedings can be downloaded and viewed below can be used as a resource for examples of engagement and a source of information for future actions and advocacy.