Localization is a Journey: How Practical Tools Can Guide the Way

The story behind the toolkit

The  Climate Action at Local Level (CALL) Program was designed around the principle that climate action is most effective when it is locally led, context-specific and grounded in strong partnerships with communities and local institutions. Acknowledging localization as a core program commitment, the consortium commissioned an assessment to establish a shared understanding of localization, examine how it is currently being practiced, and identify practical pathways for strengthening locally led climate action across the consortium. 

The CALL consortium has recently developed and introduced the “Localization Toolkit” that any organization, including the CALL consortium and beyond, can use to answer the practical question: “Where should we start our localization journey?”

In November 2025, the consortium commissioned an assessment in conjunction with the Center for Sustainable Development, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, to establish a shared understanding of localization, examine how it is currently practiced, and identify practical pathways for strengthening locally led climate action across the consortium and beyond. The assessment was completed in February 2026 and produced a toolkit designed as an adaptive framework rather than a fixed model. The framework recognizes that organizations have different mandates, capacities, contexts, and starting points, so there cannot be a single localization pathway for everyone. This is important because localization is a journey, not a one-time organizational status.

To better understand these strengths and gaps, the assessment identified 11 dimensions of localization that serve as practical “Learning Signals” for organizations to assess and strengthen their localization efforts. Based on these findings, the assessment defines localization for CALL as "the flow of power between agencies at appropriate levels so that vulnerable people can achieve socio-economic and ecological resilience under current and future global climatic changes." 

To support this vision, the assessment proposes an Adaptive Localization Action Plan Framework built around the strongest features – five localization pathways: Collaboration, Governance, Capacity, Evidence, and Sustainability, which is further supported by a monitoring framework with indicators to track progress across the 11 localization dimensions. The framework also provides practical tools to help organizations develop an operational localization vision, assess their current position, identify an appropriate localization pathway, and prepare an action plan for continuous learning and improvement.

The dimensions form the foundation of the framework

Localization is a multidimensional process that extends beyond transferring responsibilities or resources. It involves changes in organizational systems, partnerships, decision-making, capacities, financing, knowledge management, and accountability. Recognizing this complexity, the CALL Localization Framework is organized around 11 interconnected localization dimensions. These dimensions emerged through a collaborative learning process involving literature review, key informant interviews, workshops, and consultations with consortium and implementing partners. Together, they provide a practical framework for organizations to understand, assess, and strengthen their localization journey.

The dimensions are not intended as rigid standards or compliance requirements. Rather, they encourage organizations to reflect on their current practices, identify strengths and gaps, and prioritize actions that best fit their context. Although each dimension focuses on a specific aspect of localization, they are interconnected and should be considered as part of a holistic organizational approach.

Dimension 1: Project Initiation
Localization starts before implementation. This dimension encourages meaningful engagement of local actors throughout project identification, design, proposal development, validation, and inception so that interventions are shaped by local knowledge, priorities, and realities.

Dimension 2: Building equitable and long-term relationships
Effective localization depends on partnerships built on trust, mutual respect, shared decision-making, and long-term collaboration. Partnerships should move beyond transactional donor–implementer arrangements to promote shared ownership, accountability, and learning.

Dimension 3: Strengthening local capacities
Localization requires continuous investment in the capacities of individuals, organizations, and systems. It values mutual learning, knowledge exchange, leadership development, and resource mobilization while recognizing and building on existing local expertise.

Dimension 4: Creating an enabling environment
Localization extends beyond individual projects to influencing policies, institutions, and systems. Organizations should use evidence and local experience to inform policy dialogue, advocate for change, and contribute to long-term systemic transformation.

Dimension 5: Community-Based Organizations (CBOs)
Strong and representative CBOs are central to locally led development. This dimension focuses on strengthening their roles in community mobilization, participation, accountability, advocacy, and long-term sustainability.

Dimension 6: Governance and Decision Making
Meaningful localization requires local actors to participate in planning, implementation, and strategic decision-making. Inclusive governance, transparency, and shared ownership are essential to this process.

Dimension 7: Link to External Stakeholders
Connecting communities with government, private sector, academia, service providers, and other stakeholders strengthens access to services, markets, finance, knowledge, and long-term development opportunities.

Dimension 8: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)
MEL should support continuous learning, adaptive management, transparency, and mutual accountability. Participatory monitoring and community feedback help improve both program quality and localization outcomes.

Dimension 9: Funding, Financing and Due Diligence
Sustainable localization requires financing systems that are accessible, transparent, flexible, and proportionate to local capacities, while ensuring sound financial management, compliance, and accountability.

Dimension 10: Data, Information and Knowledge
Local actors are not only users of knowledge but also producers of valuable evidence and experience. This dimension promotes effective knowledge generation, management, sharing, and use to strengthen local leadership and informed decision-making.

Dimension 11: Scaling Up, Replication, Mainstreaming and Recognition
Localization should lead to broader and lasting change. This includes documenting good practices, scaling successful approaches, mainstreaming them into policies and institutions, and recognizing local leadership and innovation.

Exploring the localization toolkit

The Localization Toolkit provides a structured, practical process for organizations to understand their current localization position and identify actions to strengthen local leadership, ownership, and decision-making. The framework consists of four core components.

It begins with Component 1: Localization Vision, which supports organizations in developing or validating an operational vision that clearly defines what localization means for them. The vision should be future-oriented, ambitious yet realistic, aligned with organizational values, and achievable within a reasonable timeframe. Organizations can review an existing vision or develop a new one with senior management and relevant partners.

Component 2: Self-Assessment enables organizations to examine their existing localization practices across the 11 dimensions mentioned above. It contains 23 guiding questions covering project initiation, partnerships, skills development, policy influence, community-based organizations, governance and decision-making, external stakeholder engagement, monitoring/evaluation and learning (MEL), funding and financing, data/information/knowledge, and scaling, replication, mainstreaming and recognition.

Each question is assessed on a 1–5 scale, ranging from very limited or no systematic practice to institutionalized and consistently demonstrated practice. Organizations are expected to justify each score, encouraging evidence-based reflection rather than simple scoring.

The resulting scores help organizations identify strengths and gaps and determine the most appropriate localization pathway for subsequent action. The assessment should be evidence-informed and validated against broader organizational perspectives.

Subsequently, Component 3: Localization Pathways translates assessment findings into five possible pathways: Collaboration, Governance, Capacity, Evidence and Sustainability. The organization identifies its lowest-scoring thematic area and selects the corresponding pathway as a priority to advance its localization journey.

Finally, Component 4: Action Plan towards Localization translates the selected pathway into practical organizational changes. The action plan identifies actions required for each dimension, assigns responsibilities, determines resources, sets tentative deadlines and records relevant remarks. Actions may address strategic, operational, systemic, administrative or financial areas.

Overall, the toolkit presents localization as an iterative organizational journey, moving from vision and self-assessment to prioritization and concrete action, while enabling organizations to progressively strengthen and institutionalize localization practices.

Explore the full Toolkit Here

About the Authors

Farhana Afroz is the Programme Director of CALL Programme at Helvetas Bangladesh, and Eshita Tarafder is the Senior Consultant – Knowledge Management & Communication of CALL Programme at Helvetas Bangladesh