LINGOs commits to the following actions in support of the Agenda for Humanity:
#7: Invest in Humanity
- Empower national and local humanitarian action by increasing the share of financing available to them:
- LINGOs will lead a cross-section of humanitarian and private sector actors to develop a series of professional credentials and curricula that will build the organizational leadership skills of all humanitarian actors with an emphasis on national and local actors. These programs will be designed such that national and local NGOs will be able to demonstrate their capability to manage an increase in financing and perform at the same level as their INGO counterparts.
- Note: LINGOs led the development of credential in project management (PMD Pro) that has already reached over 15,000 development and humanitarian professionals. It is now co-leading (with Mango and InsideNGO) a working group of over 15 organizations to develop a credential in FMD Pro. We anticipate developing an addition 3-5 certifications to support this commitment.
- LINGOs will build a network of a diverse set of national and local capacity building providers to adapt and contextualize the professional credentials and curricula to the local context. LINGOs will support the providers in developing sustainable business models that ensure their ability to work with national and local NGOs in their countries and communities.
- Note: since the launch of PMD Pro, LINGOs has trained and supported at least seven capacity building providers in the Global South as well two international providers. With this commitment, LINGOs will work toward formalizing these into a network and expand it more broadly.
- LINGOs will partner with individual northern INGOs to develop learning and development solutions that enable them to transition their business models such that a greater share of humanitarian financing may be used to fund national and local NGOs. The solutions will build new skills among INGO staff and/or transfer knowledge and capacity of INGO expertise to national and local NGOs and other actors.
- Note: For northern INGOs to transition in response and in support of new business models, they need new capabilities and skills. LINGOs is already in proposal stage with several on such initiatives and based on these early pilots, can expand its portfolio of work through its 90+ NGO membership network.
- LINGOs will build tools, platforms, and networks that support peer-to-peer learning among local and national NGOs that acknowledge that they are holders of deep knowledge and wisdom of practices and capabilities that work—and need to be shared. These platforms would be aligned to support several others of our commitments for maximum benefit.
- Note: LINGOs will seek to expand on its development-focused, peer-to-peer platform for Latin American civil society.
- LINGOs will lead in the development a set of learning design, development and delivery principles that are “local-first” to ensure that its own programs and those of others in the sector are prioritizing the learning needs of national and local NGO staff. LINGOs will lead an international effort to gather additional signatories to the principles.
- Note: A shift in the financing of humanitarian response will require a similar shift in capacity building approaches that recognizes the new ecosystem that will result. With over eleven years in delivering learning with an emphasis on overcoming barriers for local and national staff in developing countries, LINGOs is uniquely positioned to lead this effort.
- LINGOs will lead a cross-section of humanitarian and private sector actors to develop a series of professional credentials and curricula that will build the organizational leadership skills of all humanitarian actors with an emphasis on national and local actors. These programs will be designed such that national and local NGOs will be able to demonstrate their capability to manage an increase in financing and perform at the same level as their INGO counterparts.