The experience of localisation in Nepal has brought about some important considerations and lesson learned, among these:
- Local Leadership is critical in driving localization – recognition as equal stakeholders
The importance and difficulty of budgeting for localisation
- The necessity to try to move beyond English (this is often difficult to incorporate in practice as it is a minimum requirement for international organizations/donors but necessary for driving localization)
- Local organisations can often come with complex socio-political associations, risk of which can be difficult to assess and mitigate
- Public perception of use of ‘local materials’ are an important factor in uptake/scalability – for example bamboo in many parts of Nepal can be seen as ‘poor man’s timber’ or symbolizes temporary shelter – need to communicate effectively and ensure it is a choice based solution
Some examples of our work in post-earthquake recovery and reconstruction phase that went beyond just re-building but focussed on building back better and often addressing long standing structural barriers to inclusion includes - Post Earthquake Reconstruction in Nepal (https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-1-205138/documents), and the Durable Solutions for households affected by the earthquake (https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-1-300462/documents). To deliver these efforts we worked extensively on localizing the response – investing in local and national government, working with and recognizing leading national experts and institutions (both private and NGO entities).