Across the world, Covid-19 restrictions and risks have forced international actors to place greater focus on local humanitarian action, more from necessity than choice. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the pandemic has the potential to deliver a timely boost for the localisation process, but to date the shift has been partial, rarely upending established power inequalities.

As part of ongoing research on how the pandemic has influenced the localisation of humanitarian aid, the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) partnered with Humanitarian Advisory Group (HAG) and GLOW Consultants, Pakistan, to carry out this study across Afghanistan and Pakistan. Drawing on relevant literature, 50 key informant interviews and a survey, the study explores the following questions:

• How is Covid-19 affecting locally led humanitarian action in Afghanistan and Pakistan?
• What are its impacts on different actors, including local and national actors and NGOs, international NGOs, UN agencies and donors? How are actors shifting their practices?
• What opportunities and challenges in relation to locally led humanitarian action have emerged as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic?
• How will these changes influence future responses?

Report published by the Overseas Development Institute