Rooted in Catholic Social Teaching, CRS is committed to its principle of subsidiarity: the understanding that communities, who are the closest to local challenges, are the artisans of their own development. Building and strengthening local leadership and institutions ensures that CRS respects the dignity and agency of each person and community we serve, and fosters an approach of accompanying local institutions to serve the common good. In fulfillment of these ideals and CRS’ commitments to the Grand Bargain1 localization initiative, CRS has developed the EMPOWER approach to local leadership of humanitarian response.

EMPOWER, for Empowering Partner Organizations Working on Emergency Responses, promotes the leadership of humanitarian response by local organizations that have nationwide coverage. It is an approach that is guided by the institutional and programmatic priorities identified within the organizations. CRS’ then provides tailored technical assistance to address the organizations’ areas of focus for capacity strengthening and continuous consultation. EMPOWER’s three areas of strategic focus to promote increased local leadership of humanitarian responses are: COORDINATION: Local partners strengthen participation in coordination platforms at the local, national and regional levels.

INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING: Local partners strengthen institutional capacities and organizational structures to better manage humanitarian responses.

FUNDING: Local partners access and implement a larger percentage of humanitarian funding.

If you would like to access EMPOWER’s real-time indicators information, please follow the link and request permission to view EMPOWER’s Power BI.