In Ghana, the concept of localization in development projects has been criticized for being superficial. Local NGOs are often invited to project meetings after the proposal has already been approved, with limited authority to decide on priorities, budgets, and evaluation. This has led to a situation where local organizations carry delivery risks but lack the power to make key decisions. According to Sadat Mohammed, genuine localization should place Ghanaian organizations and communities at the center of identifying needs, designing interventions, allocating resources, managing risks, and assessing results.
The current state of localization in Ghana's development sector has been described as a transfer of project responsibilities without a corresponding transfer of decision-making power. International donors and NGOs provide financing, technical support, and global advocacy, but often retain near-total control over project implementation. This has resulted in local organizations being treated as mere implementers, rather than partners with a stake in the project's success. A 2024 review by the USAID Office of Inspector General found that direct funding to local partners represented only 10.2% of USAID's total budget in the 2022 financial year.
The gap between localization commitments and financing practice is a significant challenge. The Grand Bargain, a humanitarian initiative, set a target of directing at least 25 percent of funding to local and national responders as directly as possible. However, the USAID review identified employee capacity, partner experience, and unreliable performance data as continuing obstacles to direct funding. These constraints are real, but they should lead to stronger partnership systems rather than stable control by huge mediators.
A recent study in Ghana highlights the importance of localization in the country's development sector. The study, based on 36 interviews with local NGOs, international NGOs, and other key informants, found that Ghanaian NGOs contribute local knowledge, credibility, and the ability to connect development programs with communities. However, restrictive funding rules, difficult accountability requirements, and weak recognition of local proficiency reduce that contribution. The study also cautions that localization may simply shift control from international organizations to authoritative national intermediaries while smaller district and regional organizations remain dependent.
To achieve meaningful localization, four reforms have been proposed. First, local organizations and community representatives should share authority from the beginning, with major programs not receiving final approval until local actors have helped define the problem, shape the theory of change, select indicators, and agree on the budget. Second, donors should provide more direct, multi-year, and flexible financing, with grants covering the real costs of governance, staff development, digital systems, monitoring, rent, safeguarding, and audits. Third, evaluation must combine upward accountability to funders with downward accountability to citizens, with communities helping to determine what progress means and receiving information about budgets and targets in understandable formats.
The fourth reform proposed is the sharing of risk fairly between local organizations and donors. Local NGOs should not carry operational, reputational, and safeguarding risks while donors reserve strategic authority. Partnership agreements should include fair overhead rates, clear procedures for budget revisions, joint risk registers, dispute-resolution mechanisms, and real exit plans. Donors should distinguish between organizational weaknesses that require support and misconduct that requires sanctions. Localization must also move away from the headquarters of national NGOs, with decision-making power moving not only from the Global North to Ghana but also from national capitals to districts and from certified organizations to citizens.
To implement these reforms, Ghana needs a national localization compact set up by the Non-Profit Organizations Secretariat, civil society networks, development partners, and representatives of community-based organizations. The compact should establish minimum standards for direct funding, common governance, transparent intermediary costs, community participation, and mutual accountability. The test of localization should no longer be whether a Ghanaian organization delivered a donor-designed project, but whether Ghanaian institutions and communities had the authority, resources, and influence to shape development outcomes.
Key points
- Local organizations must have decision-making power, not just project responsibilities, for meaningful localization to occur.
- Donors should provide more direct, multi-year, and flexible financing to local organizations.
- Localization must move away from the headquarters of national NGOs, with decision-making power moving to districts and communities.
