How operating in a domestic context fast-tracks a humanitarian organisation’s existing concerns

Action Against Hunger faced an unprece­dented challenge when opening its France office in 2019: finding a role to play in a dense social ecosystem without replac­ing it. From accountability to reshaping public policy, this domestic experience is shaking up approaches inherited from the organisation’s international work and is helping outline a productive convergence between humanitarian and social work.

A key question is raised when a humani­tarian organisation takes the decision to operate in its home country: what added value can the organisation bring in the face of the legitimate players in social work: third-sector organisations, local authorities and public institutions? The question is of even greater importance in a context marked by the growing vul­nerability of ever-broader population groups and by gradual disengagement of public authorities from social policy as they switch to focusing on their sov­ereign functions, particularly domestic security and defence.

The France office of Action Against Hunger (ACF) has been built around a core principle since it opened in late 2019: synergy with both local and na­tional players in social work. While avoiding any substitution mindset, col­laboration with other “domestic players” is one of our main concerns and is the compass guiding our work.

ACF opened its France office following an in-depth discussion process with its part­ners examining the appropriate stance to be taken by an international human­itarian non-governmental organisation (NGO) in the French context. The aim was clear from the outset: to identify and confirm with partners, and through our work, how we could provide real add­ed value in a dense social ecosystem, adopting an approach based on humil­ity, synergy and co-development with a wide range of players. The localisation of our work involved learning about social work in France and consequently required closer links and collaboration with sector players. The aim of this un­ion was not to standardise practices, but rather to seek out and develop conscious complementarities between humanitar­ian and social work practices.

Consequently, bolstered by this “cata­lyst” role, ACF now has an intersecting perspective on its work in France as a social player and on its internation­al humanitarian practices. The desire to co-develop and co-lead all of our initiatives has enabled the France office to cultivate a keen understanding of the added value that a humanitarian player can bring to social work through the eyes of its multiple partners.

These concerns about our role in the French social sphere have also led us to examine the transposition of our human­itarian mandate into a domestic context. Switching from the role of a neutral international player,^[1]Humanitarian players must not take sides during hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature. See ICRC, The fundamental principles of the … Continue reading often detached from civil society dynamics, to that of a local player, fully integrated into the social dynamics of their own country, is radically shaking up our points of reference. This switch is causing us to review our stances, principles of action, and, more broadly, our way of thinking about humanitarian work.

This article aims to provide some an­swers to the two key questions that stem from these observations:

• How does a humanitarian NGO adapt its approach when working with social sector players in order to provide added value in a domestic context?
• How does working in a domestic con­text speed up the changes to interna­tional humanitarian practices that are already underway?

Humanitarian players at the heart of civil society: local rooting, partnerships and stance

The review of ACF’s role in France highlight­ed a key point: humanitarian work has a lot to learn from social work practices. Starting operations in an already organised social ecosystem requires a humble approach, based on observation and discussion pri­or to any action and steadfastly focused on building partnerships. The goal is not to create a parallel system, but to get in­volved in existing collective dynamics by bolstering any complementarities.

“Humanitarian work has a lot to learn from social work practices.”

This approach echoes the localisation movement promoted in internation­al humanitarian work: this movement acknowledges that rootedness in local dynamics is key to legitimacy and effec­tiveness in initiatives. Fostering this col­laborative culture is key to ensuring that humanitarian players are integrated into a domestic context and, more broadly, in all our fields of operation, regardless of where they are deployed.

Acknowledging the role and expertise of local social players requires radical changes to the traditional humanitarian stance. Effective collaboration is based on a “service” approach. This involves supporting without destabilising, pro­viding analysis that draws on lessons from international experience and of­fering tools from humanitarian sector developments. This applies to project management, multi-sector coordina­tion and the importance given to data management, for instance. In this regard, cash-transfer projects co-developed by ACF in France, such as the Passerelle Plus project^[2]For further information, see the project website (In French): https://passerelle-plus.hub.inrae.fr in France’s Seine-Saint-Denis department, have shown that a mecha­nism inspired by international aid (mul­tipurpose cash assistance) can find a role to play in France, while benefiting from the expertise of social sector players and academics to increase impact.

Making beneficiaries the focus once again: from accountability to participation

In rolling out its initiatives in France, ACF has particularly demonstrated its added value by providing social work players with its “monitoring and evalu­ation” (M&E) expertise when they have asked for ACF’s support in increasing their knowledge of population groups and their needs. The France office has supported its partners in running field surveys, arranging discussion sessions with beneficiaries and implementing mechanisms in information feedback.

These practices are directly inspired by the MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning) mecha­nisms that are widely developed in the humanitarian sector. ACF has been able to utilise its expertise in this area by leveraging accountability methods that have been tried and tested for many years in the international arena.

However, while these methods give a voice to beneficiaries, they are often re­stricted to information and consultation, which produces a low level of participa­tion. Work in domestic contexts, com­bined with the inclusion of approaches taken from social work focusing on indi­vidual rights, particularly inspired by the food democracy dynamic, has led ACF to think more about the place given to bene­ficiaries: moving from the passive “bene­ficiary” receiving assistance to the “user” who has rights and agency and is fully in­volved in democratic development.

In humanitarian practices, beneficiaries are still too often given a passive role, with little involvement in decisions that directly impact them. Beyond the issue of accountability, ACF’s experience in France has therefore fuelled a broad­er process of reflection on participa­tion, specifically, how can we restore user agency and include users more in decision-making processes?

By having a strategy based on ensuring the recognition and effectiveness of the right to food – the NGO’s core ac­tivity since 1979 – ACF is applying the PANTHER^[3]PANTHER stands for Participation, Accountability, Non-discrimination, Transparency, Human dignity, Empowerment, Rule of law. principles to guide the imple­mentation of this right. In practical terms, this takes the form of supporting food de­mocracy discussion groups, involving us­ers in steering bodies, user participation in consultations about new mechanisms and changes needed in food systems.^[4]Action contre la Faim, « Parlons précarité alimentaire et droit à l’alimentation ! », 5 juin 2025, … Continue reading

Just like what the NGO endeavours to do at an international level, this approach must also be implemented with care in order to avoid any token or manipula­tive participation (known as tokenism), and above all to prevent any forms of participation that may be harmful to those involved.

Neutrality and independence versus public policy transformation

This catalyst role has also led ACF to question its relationship with public authorities. In the international arena, NGOs are guided by the principles of neutrality and independence, and are sometimes criticised for operating on the fringes of the state at the risk of creating parallel systems that meet im­mediate needs without an exit strategy or lasting complementarity with pub­lic institutions.

In France, ACF has decided to harness this neutral stance in order to position itself as a key player in dialogue, able to interact with all players (both in civil society and institutions) and, in this way, contribute to the development of pub­lic policy. The aim is not to stand in for grassroots players or to replace the insti­tutions, but to create gateways between these sectors, with the aim of fostering systemic change.

The France office of ACF has therefore been developed around an accepted aim of reshaping public policy with the idea of getting the fundamental right to food recognised and guaranteeing that it is in force across the country. ACF has developed a strategy to exert influence, based on several complementary levers, in order to achieve this aim: highlight­ing the issues and unseen groups to provide information for public policy steering, for instance with publication of a report on neglected asylum seekers,^[5]See Action contre la Faim, « Les délaissés du droit d’asile », communiqué de presse, 9 décembre 2021, https://www.actioncontrelafaim.org/actualites/presse/les-oublies-du-droit-dasile the trialling and in-depth evaluation of operational mechanisms in partnership with other players to help develop social policy and, finally, advocacy – or political lobbying – including legal action that is badly needed to remind the state about its responsibilities, for instance with publication of a report on the right to food.^[6]Action contre la Faim, Droit à l’alimentation. La France doit se mettre à table, octobre 2024, … Continue reading

Domestic operations have therefore led ACF to rethink its strategy, making pub­lic policy transformation a core objective and making direct operational work no longer an end in itself but one of the key drivers for achieving this aim.

The ACF France office has sought to walk this tightrope in all of its initiatives. Indeed, in order to go beyond simple ob­servations, the office is rolling out various operational projects that have two main points in common: their demonstrable value and the inclusion of legitimate players throughout implementation. Indeed, whether they are co-developed with institutional players (such as the Vital’im project^[7]Action contre la Faim, « Le Département de la Seine-Saint-Denis et Action contre la Faim s’associent pour expérimenter un chèque alimentation durable avec le soutien de l’État », … Continue reading co-developed with the local council of Seine-Saint-Denis department) or third-sector organisa­tions (such as a tiered pricing project implemented in Marseille with a social centre),^[8]For more information, see “Projet territorial 15e” on the Action Against Hunger website page dedicated to its activities in the PACA region (in French): … Continue reading all of our projects seek to go beyond the direct benefit for users of the scheme by aiming to contribute to future social policy developments, particularly those linked to the right to food.

This approach seems to be fully trans­posable at an international level, with­out calling into question the principles of neutrality and independence, and as part of a stance based on support for civ­il society players in countries where op­erations take place. NGOs have a unique position: they are rooted in grassroots reality and involved in coordination bodies in conjunction with public au­thorities. Their dual roots enable them to contribute to public policy development by documenting needs while putting for­ward tangible solutions and conveying the voice of users and grassroots play­ers when they perceive added value in these solutions.

This unique position also increases the relevance for humanitarian players in forging links in civil society, also help­ing them gain access to international ad­vocacy opportunities, for example with United Nations (UN) bodies, as well as creating gateways with their counter­parts in other countries. Linking up civil society dynamics is fully relevant if we recognise that these issues go beyond divisions between the Global North and the Global South, in a globalised context in which access to healthy food, in suffi­cient quantities, is influenced by the ac­tions of governments and private-sector players from other countries.

A restriction on this stance: public authorities have switched their focus to their sovereign functions

Operating in a domestic context has therefore provided a reminder that so­cial policy falls within the scope of a framework of rights that the state must guarantee for all, regardless of the con­text. A change to our strategy stems from this observation, with the focus being placed on changing public policy while supporting the existing ecosystem.

However, this role supporting social work players is becoming increasing­ly complex to play in the context of a state refocusing on its sovereign func­tions alone, a growing vulnerability of the social sector and a weakening of the players working most closely with vul­nerable groups. When confronted with these dynamics, the question arises of more operational involvement in order to meet the needs of the most vulnera­ble groups. However, this comes at the risk of a further weakening of local play­ers and an endorsement of withdrawal of public authorities, as has been observed in some international contexts.

Consequently, rather than competing with social players, the role of human­itarian players should be to highlight the issues faced by social players and to even be a “shield” when conveying some messages. They could also warn the social sector about acknowledged bad practice in the humanitarian sec­tor: increasing bureaucratisation, poten­tial use of monitoring and evaluation to control operational players, or even de facto substitution of public institutions.

Coordination and an integrated vision

The culture of inter-players coordina­tion is pivotal in the humanitarian sec­tor, and has, in fact, facilitated ACF’s integration in France, enabling our ini­tiatives to be coordinated with existing public policies and influence their de­velopment. This integration facilitates decompartmentalised responses by providing a multidimensional vision of vulnerability-related issues and by encouraging more holistic solutions. It paves the way for an integrated ap­proach in which social and humanitar­ian players stand together in response to rising levels of vulnerability.

The convergence of humanitarian and social work seems not only appropriate but also necessary in a context of worsen­ing inequalities and in which the borders between faraway emergencies and local vulnerability are blurring. The challenge now is to recognise that these two fields share – while retaining their unique fea­tures – a common perspective: enabling each individual to meet their fundamen­tal needs while fully exercising their rights, regardless of where they live.

“Operating in their home countries has a truly transformative effect on humanitarian organisations and on humanitarian workers themselves.”

As we have seen, operating in their home countries has a truly transformative ef­fect on humanitarian organisations and on humanitarian workers themselves. For many of them, involvement in a do­mestic response has been an opportuni­ty to question practices inherited from the international arena and gain some perspective on what humanitarian work is all about.

Many have come to work on these local initiatives with questions about the ap­proaches used by international human­itarian work. They have found some answers, which can often be transposed to major humanitarian issues of the fu­ture: prioritising localisation, fair and ac­tual participation of all, a rights-based approach and an operational response aiming to develop a strategy to exert influence. This all demonstrates that these two spheres of action can enrich each other.

Translated from the French by Gillian Eaton