The Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition is a collective of organizations, from philanthropies to implementing partners, committed to direct, flexible funding for local groups responding to Sudan’s humanitarian crisis. Rather than asking local groups to change for international systems, the Coalition is adapting its approach to meet mutual aid actors where they are.
The was established to correct the imbalance between the proven success of informal groups in delivering aid and the direct funding they receive - currently less than 1% of international humanitarian funding. It provides mechanisms for direct, fast, and cost-efficient transfer of funds to support a well-coordinated and highly-decentralized group of Sudanese organizations, according to their humanitarian priorities. It also provides financial, technical, and advocacy support to mutual aid leaders, per their guidance and requests. Localization is a shift in the way aid works.
Why is the coalition needed?
The scale of assistance achieved through the traditional international aid system is vital in emergencies like Sudan, yet they are poorly equipped to support local groups, particularly mutual aid initiatives. Local initiatives must spend significant effort and time adapting their work and operating models to fit donors' priorities rather than delivering what their communities need. Those that are not formalized NGOs are then excluded from traditional funding altogether. As a result, vital first responders, like ERRs, end up under-resourced despite being on the ground delivering assistance on the frontlines.
Mutual aid groups in Sudan are able to provide effective reporting by first prioritizing that affected communities receive the high-quality, life-saving assistance they need. In this system of accountability, local groups are 100% trusted to know where, what and how their resources can be deployed most effectively and to make that their primary objective, meaning they are accountable for providing what their communities need rather than meeting external priorities.