Raagsan Consulting is The widespread famine that struck the Horn of Africa in 2011 shade the light on the gaps in shockresponsive systems across the region. The famine brought together key stakeholders and sparked a debate on the impacts of delayed responses. One of the most emphasized gaps is the lack of granular data to inform early responses that contributed to the increased impact of the unfolding disasters. Since then, shocks have intensified in frequency and severity. However, the capacity of the local actors to produce credible data and knowledge to inform early responses and recovery, on the contrary, remains minimal. In 2016, at the World Humanitarian Summit, donors and large organizations signed up for the Grand Bargain Commitmentsto reform the humanitarian and development sector by empowering local actors, including local researchers. However, it is has been difficult for locals to find a seat at the table in a sector dominated by international research companies.
For a long time, the knowledge and expertise local researchers can bring to the sector has been overlooked and underappreciated. Their role was limited to only acquiring data and information from the field.The risks and difficulties involved in gaining access andgathering data from communities already facing interview fatiguewere transferred to the local researchers. Despite this, the data we collected was turned into reports by others and given to stakeholders and decision-makers with little appreciation for the labor and effort we, the data collectors, put in to get factual data from the field. Our voice remained unheard.Our voice remained unheard.
