Localisation has moved from a policy aspiration to a test of credibility for international NGOs, UN agencies and donors. Local organisations are often first to respond in a crisis and remain long after international teams leave, but they frequently receive short-term project funding, little overhead and capacity building designed around the compliance needs of the funder rather than their own priorities. Fostering genuine ownership means rethinking how partners are selected, assessed, funded, supported and eventually handed full responsibility.

The Fostering Ownership: Localization and Capacity Building of Local Partners Training Course follows the partnership lifecycle. It opens with the principles behind the localisation agenda and the power dynamics that shape partnerships. Participants then examine partner selection and due diligence, participatory capacity assessment, capacity strengthening approaches that go beyond workshops, and equitable financial arrangements including core funding and overheads. The closing days cover shared risk management, joint monitoring and the design of exit and transition strategies.

The course is discussion-led and highly applied. Participants bring examples of their own partnerships, test assessment tools on case organisations and leave with a partnership improvement plan they can take back to colleagues and partners.

Participants will leave able to:

• Explain the commitments of the Grand Bargain, the Charter for Change and related localisation frameworks.
• Analyse power, funding and decision-making imbalances in existing partnerships.
• Conduct a joint organisational capacity assessment with a local partner.
• Design capacity strengthening plans that partners lead and own.
• Apply proportionate due diligence and shared risk management approaches.
• Structure budgets that provide fair overheads and indirect cost recovery for local organisations.
• Plan the phased transition of programme leadership to local actors.

The course suits people who build, fund or lead partnerships between international and local organisations:

• Partnership and localisation advisers in international NGOs
• Country directors and heads of programmes
• Grants and award managers
• Capacity development and organisational development specialists
• Compliance, finance and risk officers who assess partners
• Executive directors and managers of local NGOs and community-based organisations
• Donor and UN agency staff managing implementing partners
• Humanitarian coordinators and cluster or working group leads

Participants take away practical tools, including:

• An adapted capacity assessment tool designed to be used with partners rather than on them.
• A template for a partner-led capacity strengthening plan with milestones.
• A checklist for reviewing partnership agreements for equity, risk sharing and decision rights.
• A costing approach for fair indirect cost recovery in partner budgets.
• A draft transition roadmap for one real programme or partnership.
• Indicators for tracking progress on localisation within their own organisation.

Sessions are participatory and rooted in partnership experience across the sector. Methods include:

• Facilitated dialogue on power, trust and accountability between partners
• Case organisations used to practise joint capacity assessment
• Role plays negotiating agreements, budgets and decision rights
• Peer exchange between participants from international and local organisations
• Individual coaching on each participant's partnership improvement plan

Participants earn a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy on attending all five days and submitting their completed partnership improvement plan.