Localising Humanitarianism, Peace Making, and Diplomacy: The Challenges Facing Muslim INGOs

Since the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, the concept of localisation has dominated the narrative of international donor engagement. Traditionally, this is something that Muslim charities have supposedly been doing. Yet Muslim charities are conspicuous by their absence in the global debate despite the fact that over the last 20 years, there has been an explosion in the number of International Islamic Development organisations or charities. The localisation debate highlights a weakness for the Muslim charities in terms of operations on the ground. Muslim International Non Governmental Organisations (INGOs) appear to be struggling to articulate a modus operandi for operation. As a consequence, Muslim charities respond in a schizophrenic manner brought about by a lack of information on how Muslim organisations work in the field of charity and also an internal understanding of how Muslim charities should operate. This article discusses the need for a paradigm shift for Muslim INGOs within the localisation debate in terms of how they operate, identify, and work with local partners.