Seminar Report launch and policy discussion

If Prosjekt Vendepunkt is serious about change, locally led development must move from rhetoric to donor practice.

Prosjekt Vendepunkt aims to reset Norwegian development policy. Whether it succeeds will depend on concrete choices about how power, risk and resources are distributed—not new commitments alone.

For Caritas Norway, locally led development is not a project or a modality, but our core operating approach. It reflects what evidence and experience show: aid is more effective, accountable and sustainable when local actors have decision‑making authority and predictable, flexible financing.

Caritas Norway invites you to the launch of Tracking Progress, Challenges and Opportunities, a new report assessing whether current donor frameworks enable real localisation in practice—or continue to centralise control at international level.

As Norway revises its development policy through Prosjekt Vendepunkt, locally led development is a litmus test: will Norwegian aid architecture change accordingly, or will existing power structures remain largely intact?

At this breakfast seminar, Caritas Norway presents findings, share lessons and hosts a policy discussion with Norwegian authorities and partners on what a genuine Vendepunkt would require for development aid to be locally led.

This event is open to anyone interested in making aid more equitable and effective. Register here!

Programme

08:00 Doors open – coffee and pastries
08:30–08:33 Welcome remarks by Secretary General Ingrid Rosendorf Joys, Caritas Norway
08:33–08:40 Presentation of the report by Abriel Schieffelers, Caritas Europa
08:40–09:10 Panel 1: The international stage – what can locally led development look like?

• Gemechu Berhanu, Executive Director, Association of Pastoralist Community for Change (APCfC)
• Valentina Vösgen, Lead Institutional Partnerships Specialist, Helping to Leave
• Sheetal Rana, Director for Partnership and Localisation, Trócaire
• Christian Freres, Focal Point for Localization, Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID)

09:15–09:40 Panel 2: What are the barriers to localization, and what can we do from Norway?

• Stine Renate Håheim, State Secretary to the Minister of International Development
• Tuva Bugge, International Director, Caritas Norway
• Anne Huser, Head of Institutional Partnerships Section, Norwegian Refugee Council,
• Participant TBA, Save the Children Norway

Moderator (Panels 1 & 2): Cindy Robles

09:40–09:45 Concluding remarks