Humanitarian Emergency Fund: annual report 2025-2026

Section C: Thematic Good Practice

Localisation and Shifting Power South

A key component of the Scottish Government’s International Development principles is taking a decolonised lens in supporting to shift power south^[12]. This approach is embedded in HEF funded programmes, with the majority of HEF members delivering their programmes through trusted local/national partners who have access to communities and strong contextual knowledge to ensure assistance is appropriate and accountable.

For the DRC HEF funded response, Tearfund worked through Eglise Anglicane du Congo (EAC), in Malehe, which is inaccessible to most humanitarian actors due to conflict in the area. EAC has a deep-rooted local knowledge of the affected area and were able to facilitate the relevant targeting of the community and conflict sensitive delivery in a highly constrained operating environment. Additionally, focus group discussions with the community, led by this trusted local partner directly shaped which activities were delivered and which specific community members to target. Through adopting this highly localised approach, and embedding the shift of power within their programming, Tearfund were able to support those most in need in an exceedingly complex operational environment.

Gender-based Approaches

Women and girls are often disproportionately at risk during humanitarian crises, meaning that it is critical for responses to be gender-sensitive throughout programme design and delivery. As this is one of the Scottish Government’s International Development principles, HEF members took a gender-focused approach in their responses in 2025-6, prioritising the inclusion of women-headed households, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and survivors of GBV. For example, in South Sudan, Christian Aid, through their local partner HDC, provided dedicated support to GBV survivors through counselling, psychosocial care, case management, and targeted cash assistance.

Alongside this targeted support, HEF members worked with their local partners to strengthen protection and gender equality at the community level. In the DRC response, Oxfam supported access to GBV services, the strengthening of community protection structures through training for committee members, and women-led protection planning, supporting the identification of protection risks. In this way, across the responses, HEF members have put women and girls at the centre of their programmes; these approaches have supported addressing the immediate protection concerns in addition to contributing to women’s participation, leadership, and strengthening of community resilience.