How empowering is humanitarian aid in the 21st century? We welcome an expert panel to discuss past and present localisation efforts, and how they affect migration dynamics and community building.
What does the future of humanitarian aid look like in the 21st century? How empowering can humanitarian efforts be for the individuals and communities they serve? And is it possible for this work to advance decolonisation in the migration-development sector?
In this episode, recorded in early 2025, we spoke with Danilo Angulo-Molina, MSc candidate in Global Governance and Diplomacy at the University of Oxford, and Ruta Nimkar, Co-Founder of Meraki Labs and DPhil candidate in Migration Studies at COMPAS, about the idea of the localisation of aid and how it contrasts with the image of large international organisations. How does the principle of localisation work in practice? What is the Grand Bargain, and why is it significant in shaping discussions about cross-border migration?
We draw on several project at COMPAS and the University of Oxford’s Department of International Development, including the MIGNEX project that examined the role of aid in migration decision making and found it to be multi-layered.
We also explore research undertaken in Colombia, Iran, Somalia and South Sudan with Meraki Labs to consider how local groups and initiatives can amplify the voices of migrants, often more effectively than national or international aid programmes.
This episode was recorded in early 2025. We would therefore like to acknowledge that the context discussed may since have changed.
