As part of its efforts to enhance the quality of humanitarian response and support crisis-affected communities across the Global South, the Relief Center announced the signing of a strategic Memorandum of Understanding with the NEAR Network. This partnership reflects the Center’s commitment to strengthening multi-stakeholder collaboration as a key pillar for transforming humanitarian action and addressing the growing challenges in fragile and conflict-affected environments.

The NEAR Network is recognized as one of the world’s leading alliances advocating for locally led humanitarian action. Bringing together national and local organizations from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, NEAR works to reshape the global aid system toward greater fairness, efficiency, and community-driven leadership—moving away from traditional centralized models. Through its global presence, NEAR promotes direct funding for local actors, strengthens institutional capacities, and advances the principles of humanitarian localization.

The partnership aims to expand avenues for knowledge exchange, strengthen coordination in program design and implementation, and build the capacities of local organizations to design responses that are more sustainable, context-driven, and effective. It also seeks to reduce duplication of interventions, improve operational planning, and foster deeper collaboration between actors working in high-need environments. Both parties will explore the development of shared data platforms to support local organizations with access to accurate needs assessments and contextual insights—an essential step toward improving targeting, strengthening operational coherence, and ensuring interventions reach the most vulnerable in a timely manner.