From Local Voices to Global Platforms: How Ugandan Advocates are Shaping Humanitarian Policy
Husna Barbra, the Executive Director of Wezesha Women Initiative, Oxfam's local actor/partner at the European Humanitarian Platform in 2025.
In Western Uganda, local leaders once confined to the margins of humanitarian work are now stepping into the global spotlight, pushing for greater recognition and support for community-led organizations. Through Oxfam’s support under the Charter for Change (C4C), these advocates are not only amplifying their communities’ concerns but also reshaping how humanitarian aid is delivered.
The Charter for Change, signed by Oxfam as part of a global commitment, calls for aid agencies to rethink how they work by empowering local actors. The principle is simple: local organizations, being closest to the people, understand community needs better than international agencies.
““Instead of them speaking for us, They send us to different platforms to be able to speak for ourselves. This overtime gives us an experience to learn how to engage with particular donors and how to bring out points and advocate for our rights,” said Nakisinde Catherine, who works as the Advocacy and influencing officer for a local organisation, African Women and Youth Action for Development.”
A Seat at the Table
At a recent forum in Geneva, Ugandan advocates joined their peers from across Africa and beyond to engage with donors, policymakers, and humanitarian leaders. For many, it was a turning point.
“I met donors, local actors from within Uganda, and others in the diaspora,” the activist recalls. “That engagement we had gave me so much courage. It made me realize that what I’m doing is important, and I must scale it up so my community benefits from what we have learnt.” said Barbra Etum Husna, the Executive Director of Wezesha Women Initiative
The forum also hosted a donor roundtable organized under C4C, where local actors spoke directly to funders about the importance of localization. The conversations focused on shifting power, providing direct funding to community organizations, and enhancing local leadership capacity.
Barbra Etum Husna, the Executive Director of Wezesha Women Initiative, one of Oxfam's local partner at the European Humanitarian Forum 2025
Building Skills, Building Confidence
Back home, Oxfam’s investment in training has been equally transformative. From advocacy to digital rights, from communications to monitoring and evaluation (M&E), local organizations in Western Uganda have strengthened their skills to better serve their communities.
“We’ve had trainings on leadership, communications, and M&E systems. Courtesy of Oxfam. These have improved how we operate as local actors,” Nakasinde says.
Such capacity-building has created ripple effects. Partnerships now extend beyond Uganda to countries like Congo, Ghana, and Malawi, and even to networks in Europe and Asia.
“We had an opportunity as local actors under the charter for change to organise a donor roundtable discussion that brought donors and local actors together. The idea of this roundtable discussion was really for them to have a direct interaction with local actors and this was a really important meeting for us as local actors. Donors really got to understand the importance of localising and providing funding directly to local actors”
Even as progress is celebrated, local actors continue to press for change. They are urging donors to adopt more flexible policies and support models that put power and resources directly in the hands of local organisations.
Lukendo Mbokani, the Executive Director of the Refugee-led Organisation Network
“We’ve seen the contribution of local actors in pushing forward localisation,” the activist emphasises. “We call upon donors to be flexible and to work directly with intermediaries like Oxfam to strengthen local actors,” said Geoffrey Owino, the Policy and Influencing coordinator at Oxfam
What began as a capacity-building partnership has become a movement for systemic change. By shifting power to local organizations, Oxfam’s Charter for Change commitment is amplifying voices once unheard and ensuring that humanitarian action in Uganda is driven by those who know the needs best: the communities themselves.