Strengthening Locally Led Relief Models in Sudan

Summary

In 2024, the Gates Foundation committed to providing $525,000 to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) by the end of 2024 to partner with local responders to address conflict-related humanitarian needs in Sudan, as part of the Strengthening Local Humanitarian Leadership Philanthropic Collaborative (LHL) initiative. In 2025, the Gates Foundation committed to providing an additional $750,000 – bringing the total to $1,275,000 – to NRC to support a second phase of this project. This initiative is committed to identify and fund flexible financing approaches to support local humanitarian responders in Sudan with the objective to scale-up the overall level of resources provided to groups implementing critical last-mile services in their communities. The ongoing crisis in Sudan is one of the largest, overlooked humanitarian crises in the world, and Sudanese locally led approaches have become the quickest and most effective methods to reach those in need. This initiative aligns with the Foundation’s Emergency Response Team’s strategy to collaborate with established humanitarian organizations and provide fast and flexible funding to address acute humanitarian needs in contexts of rapid onset disasters.

Approach

The Gates Foundation will provide $525,000 to Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in 2024 to support locally-led relief models in Sudan. NRC will provide approximately 60 group cash transfers (GCT) , with each GCT up to $5,000, to established and approved Local Responders (a Local Responder may be an ERR, a Mutual Aid Initiative, a Community Organization, etc.) . NRC will follow its own established process for identifying and approving Local Responders, disbursing funds, and conducting post distribution monitoring. NRC, in partnership with Shabaka, will also conduct an Impact Evaluation of this model for broader sharing within the humanitarian community.

Potential Challenges/Risks include: 1) Government crackdown on Local Responders; 2) Fraud and Corruption; 3) Armed Conflict/Insecurity; 4) Increased Attention on Local Responders. NRC has developed mitigation measures to limit the negative impact of these risks.

The Gates Foundation Emergency Response Team will provide funding, strategic thought partnership, and guidance to NRC during the implementation of this grant.

Action Plan

Background

After more than one-year of conflict, the situation in Sudan remains tenuous with active fighting continuing to affect civilian populations across the country. Current assessments indicate that 1/3 of the population (~45-50 million pre-conflict) is at risk of famine, 9M people have been internally displaced, and 5M children <5 is acutely malnourished. Access remains limited for international NGOs and UN agencies, with most organizations maintaining operational capacity in the most conflict-affected areas via local partners. The Gates Foundation is providing funding to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) to support a locally-led relief model that will provide targeted group cash transfers to Local Responders. These Local Responders represent local communities and can ensure last mile delivery of critical food, health, and WASH assistance to their communities. This model demonstrates a creative and potentially impactful and efficient model that will ultimately directly assist those most impacted by the current conflict. In addition to scaling a creative locally-led model, this commitment will also make an investment in evaluating the impact of this model and develop a shareable report highlighting impact, best practices, and recommendations for scaling or application in other contexts. This investment aligns with the Foundation Emergency Response Team's strategic approach to provide fast and flexible funding to established humanitarian organizations in order to address acute humanitarian needs to populations affected by rapid onset disasters.[commitment-title title='Progress Update'] Under Phase 1 of this project, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) provided 68 group cash transfers (GCTs) totalling $340,000 to 53 local responders (i.e. CSOs, ERRs, mutual aid groups) that provided direct assistance to 66,629 individuals, including 58,817 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 7,812 host community members. 100% of local responders received capacity strengthening and financial management assistance to improve their program design and delivery acumen. In addition, NRC completed an Impact Evaluation entitled “Evaluating the Impact of Supporting Mutual Aid Initiatives through Group Cash Transfers (GCTs) in Sudan and Other Contexts” to assess the effectiveness of this model and develop best practices and key findings of this model. In 2025, the Gates Foundation provided $750,000 in additional funding to support Phase 2, an 18-month grant which will enable NRC to expand on the previous investment and integrate key findings and recommendations that will contribute to strengthening the GCT model. This second phase aims to broaden and deepen the impact by identifying and equipping a new cohort of less-recognized Local Responders (LRs) – especially women- and youth-led groups – with the resources, skills, and systems needed to drive sustainable, locally led responses. The project follows a three-phase “Graduation Approach”: (1) mapping and assessing 50 under-recognized LRs; (2) providing small grants of US$5,000 each with targeted training to strengthen management and accountability; (3) awarding larger Flexible Mini-Grants of up to US$25,000 to ten high-performing LRs ready for institutional growth and direct donor engagement. This phased process links immediate humanitarian response to long-term organizational resilience, ensuring local groups evolve from ad hoc responders to credible institutions capable of sustaining impact independently. The project pursues three main outcomes: (1) greater inclusion and representation of marginalized LRs in humanitarian coordination systems, particularly women- and youth-led organizations; (2) stronger institutional and operational capacities of these groups through progressive training, funding, and mentorship; and (3) improved coordination, learning, and replication of the GCT model across Sudan and other NRC missions[commitment-title title='Partnership Opportunities']