PAHNAL Colombia, a collective commitment to autonomy and humanitarian leadership 

When a small group of locally led humanitarian organisations began meeting in 2023 to discuss the localisation agenda, they could hardly have imagined that those conversations would give rise to a platform that, within a few years, would participate in national coordination bodies, mobilise resources to strengthen local leadership and be recognised as a trusted interlocutor by international agencies. Rather than merely responding to an emerging trend in the humanitarian sector, these discussions sought to address a concern that local organisations had been grappling with for years: how to move beyond implementing humanitarian responses and begin influencing the decisions that shape them.

For decades, Colombian humanitarian organisations had responded to displacement, confinement, natural disasters and other complex crises, building trusted relationships with affected communities and accumulating extensive knowledge of the territories where they worked. Yet this experience rarely translated into meaningful participation in the spaces where priorities were set, resources allocated and coordination mechanisms designed.

The first discussions took place within the Localisation Reflection Group, established under the Flagship initiative of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). What began as a forum for exchanging experiences soon revealed a shared concern: strengthening capacities or expanding access to funding would have only limited impact as long as national organisations continued to occupy a secondary position within Colombia’s humanitarian architecture. These discussions led first to the creation of the Localisation Working Group and, subsequently, to the establishment of the National Humanitarian Action Platform of Colombia (PAHNAL Colombia).

PAHNAL was created to bring locally led humanitarian organisations together, build common positions and strengthen their engagement with the wider humanitarian system. The Platform grew rapidly. By December 2025, it brought together 311 organisations: 164 legally registered and 147 community-based organisations in the process of formalisation, many of which had served as first responders for more than 10 years, with expertise spanning over 12 areas of humanitarian action. Within a short period, PAHNAL expanded its presence in national coordination mechanisms, promoted initiatives to bolster the leadership of its member organisations and began building a shared localisation agenda with other networks in Colombia and across the region.

PAHNAL’s evolution offers a grounded perspective on how localisation actually unfolds. Rather than a linear process of transferring resources or strengthening institutional capacities, its experience illustrates how a platform of locally led organisations gradually built a collective voice capable of engaging in dialogue, negotiating with other humanitarian actors and influencing decision-making within Colombia’s humanitarian system.

From participation to influence

The Localisation Working Group’s first decision was to organise itself. Its member organisations held many of the same concerns about their place within the humanitarian system, but they also recognised that these concerns would carry little weight if expressed individually. Establishing an independent platform made it possible to engage collectively with international agencies, donors and other humanitarian actors.

At this stage, Colombian organisations established contact with the National Humanitarian Action Platform of Venezuela (PAHNAL Venezuela), a network that had already followed a similar path of collective organisation. Through a series of exchanges and conversations, they learned how the Venezuelan platform had been formed, the challenges it had faced and how it had become a recognised interlocutor within the humanitarian system. This dialogue led to the creation of PAHNAL Colombia, an independent platform inspired by the Venezuelan experience but shaped by Colombia’s own humanitarian context and priorities.

The experience also fostered an emerging form of South–South cooperation among locally led organisations. In 2025, organisations from Colombia and Venezuela supported the creation of PAHNAL Ecuador, extending this network of national humanitarian platforms. In a region that has historically occupied a peripheral place in global humanitarian debates, this collaboration is beginning to shape a distinctly Latin American voice on localisation – one grounded in horizontal exchange, peer learning and the collective search for solutions to shared challenges.

PAHNAL’s consolidation coincided with a period in which the localisation agenda was creating new opportunities within Colombia’s humanitarian coordination architecture. One of the most notable developments was the progressive inclusion of national organisations in the Local Coordination Spaces and, later, in the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT).

Negotiations were far from straightforward: questions persisted about the technical and administrative capacity of local organisations to assume coordination responsibilities, reporting requirements and information management procedures. Even so, 3 of Colombia’s 16 Local Coordination Spaces came to be co-led by territorial organisations on a voluntary basis. Within the HCT, the discussion went even further. It was generally assumed that local actors were already represented through mixed networks of non-governmental organisations. PAHNAL argued instead that locally led and community-based organisations should have their own voice in the country’s principal humanitarian decision-making body.

The Platform’s efforts eventually secured PAHNAL a seat with both voice and vote in the HCT. This became one of its most significant milestones, not simply because it gained access to the country’s highest humanitarian coordination body, but because it symbolised the recognition of locally led organisations as legitimate interlocutors within Colombia’s humanitarian system. This achievement depended not only on technical capacity but also on political leadership. It was made possible by the support of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Colombia, whose decision to open the HCT to PAHNAL reflected the broader commitments of the global localisation agenda.

PAHNAL’s growing capacity for coordination was soon recognised in other areas of the humanitarian system and the Platform became a reference point for international organisations seeking to identify capable local partners. One such example arose when OCHA sought to identify five organisations to submit proposals for implementing humanitarian programmes in priority municipalities. Rather than recommending organisations informally, PAHNAL established an internal selection process based on agreed criteria, including territorial experience, operational capacity and previous humanitarian work. This process enabled OCHA to draw on the collective knowledge of the Platform’s members while strengthening confidence in transparent, locally driven mechanisms for selecting implementation partners.

As PAHNAL’s role evolved, the Platform increasingly moved beyond representing the interests of individual organisations. It became a space through which locally led organisations could engage collectively with international actors, share knowledge about territorial capacities and develop common responses to shared challenges. This collective role gradually strengthened relationships across the humanitarian system and expanded opportunities for local organisations to contribute to decision-making beyond project implementation.

The same commitment to collective action also shaped PAHNAL’s engagement with other locally led networks. The Platform began working alongside national and regional initiatives, including the ToGETHER initiative and the NEAR network, to develop a shared localisation agenda in Colombia. These exchanges helped build common positions on local leadership, access to funding and participation in humanitarian coordination mechanisms. They also deepened the involvement of locally led organisations in national forums such as the National Reference Group on Localisation, as well as in international discussions linked to the Grand Bargain, contributing to a stronger collective voice within global localisation debates.

This collaborative approach also informed how PAHNAL understood its own role. The Platform did not seek to replace existing networks or speak on behalf of all humanitarian organisations in Colombia. Instead, it sought to create a space where diverse organisations could deliberate, develop shared positions and engage collectively with the wider humanitarian system. By connecting organisations working in different territories, PAHNAL has helped transform dispersed local experience into common proposals on humanitarian financing, coordination, representation and locally led leadership.

This trajectory has taken on particular significance in the current context of humanitarian restructuring and declining global funding. As financial resources become increasingly constrained, longstanding questions about who has access to funding, who sets priorities and who assumes operational risks have become more visible. In this context, localisation is no longer simply a normative aspiration. It has become a practical and increasingly urgent discussion about how power, resources and decision-making are distributed across the humanitarian system.

Conclusion

PAHNAL’s experience suggests that localisation is also built when locally led organisations create their own platforms to coordinate, represent shared interests and participate in the decisions that shape humanitarian action. In Colombia, this process remains ongoing. Yet the Platform’s evolution demonstrates that moving from participation to influence depends on more than new funding mechanisms or institutional reforms. It also requires collective organisation, peer learning and platforms capable of transforming locally grounded knowledge into a collective voice that can engage with and influence the humanitarian system. Without meaningful decision-making power and technical autonomy, participation risks becoming only a discourse.

Pedro Niño Sequera is the Executive Director of APOYAR, co-lead of PAHNAL Colombia.