Flagship Initiative Final Report (March 2026)

In November 2022, Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths proposed an ‘initiative to pilot a people-centred, agile, locally-driven response in a number of countries’ to the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Principals. The Flagship Initiative launched in early 2023 as a humanitarian change process in four countries: Niger, South Sudan, the Philippines, and Colombia. Somalia joined the process in late 2024.

The three-year undertaking was essentially a policy initiative to encourage experimentation, innovation, and learning. OCHA country offices were asked how to reorient the architecture and machinery of UN-led humanitarianism toward a people-centred approach.

Three pillars of activity emerged: community engagement, area-based coordination, and localised financing. All four countries built a considerable, if uneven, body of practice. This final evaluation synthesises that activity and the learning that emerges from it.