AGORA, a joint venture between ACTED and IMPACT Initiatives, was created in 2016 to ground humanitarian and development work in local knowledge, in keeping with the motto « Think local, Act global »AGORA is an area-based approach for aid planning and delivery anchored in local territories and knowledge that aims to increase the relevance and the value added of humanitarian and development programming and to empower local actors.It puts local people and actors at the centre by using territories as the basis for the planning and delivery of assistance, and ensuring that action is guided by local knowledge and supports local structures and capacities.

AGORA has three objectives: 

  • Delivering quality, relevant programming tailored to each context 
  • Ensuring that programs are locally led, sustainable and accountable to affected people 
  • Delivering aid effectively across sectors through a Nexus approach. 

To deliver on these objectives, the AGORA methodology is built around the five following enablers: 

  • Working through the appropriate territorial entry points, informed by existing socio-spatial features  
  • Making every effort to rely on local knowledge to inform program approaches 
  • Empowering and capacitating local actors and communities throughout the project cycle 
  • Building a strong evidence-base to inform quality and context specific planning and programming 
  • Building synergies between local and external actors with resources and capacity to help develop and implement environmentally sound local recovery and resilience solutions. 

AGORA has already been piloted in nine countries through fourteen projects, reaching an estimated 1.6 million direct beneficiaries, and supporting 866 organizations.