Closing the Gap at the World Humanitarian Summit

The first ever World Humanitarian Summit is taking place at Istanbul. A lot of expectations have been placed at this Summit. Being here as part of the Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network (www.adrrn.net), there is naturally an aspiration to see how the agenda of "localisation of humanitarian aid architecture" is taking shape. Indeed, this is the singular push ADRRN and many other national and local NGOs have been making for over two years now. Today, the first step was taken, as a new global network of local NGOs called NEAR (www.near.ngo) was launched; I believe this is an important beginning that can potentially serve as a game changer in the humanitarian system. However, this is not enough. A lot more commitments need to follow. The next two days are going to be interesting when a lot more will be said. Watch this space for more updates.