Over 2 days in June, local humanitarian organisations, global partners and guest speakers joined together in Istanbul, Türkiye, for the Forum for Partnership Excellence.  

Islamic Relief researcher Zahra Khan Durrani explains why the event is so important.

The partner co-led forum is one of Islamic Relief’s flagship spaces for learning, reflection, and real talk with the local organisations we work with. This year, we brought together 40 participants – old and new partners, country teams, family offices, board members, and a few incredible guest speakers – to dig deep into what genuine partnership really looks like, what gets in the way, and what we can do together to fix it.

A room full of lived wisdom

From one of our longest-standing partnerships in Indonesia, to our newest additions from Mozambique, the event included a diverse group of participants. Some of the countries represented included:

• Türkiye
• Morocco
• Nigeria
• The Democratic Republic of Congo
• Germany
• Australia
• The United Kingdom

We were also extremely fortunate to have the Humanitarian Advisory Group (HAG) as our learning partner, with Beth Eggleston masterfully facilitating the entire event. We also had a strong line-up of speakers from ODI Global & Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG), Joint Learning Initiative for Faith and Local Communities (JLIFLC), and International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC).

We’re genuinely proud to have made this event happen, but in all honesty, we were lucky to have each of the participants on this journey with us.

Shifting systems, shifting selves

The first day of the forum opened with powerful talks from Islamic Relief’s Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, Faiza El-Higzi, and Affan Cheema, Director of the International Programmes Division. Rooted in Islamic Relief’s decades-long journey towards localisation, their comments encouraged attendees to look past transactions and frameworks and build partnerships that are real, human, and built to last.

A key focus of the event was 2 panels that tackled some of the toughest questions the humanitarian sector faces today – from rising needs and shrinking resources, to the deeper shifts true localisation demands.

“The world feels less of a safe place,” Veronique Barbelet of ODI global, a think tank, told the room. “With conflict deaths up by 72% between 2022 and 2023, and over one billion people facing extreme climate risk, international funding is seeing its biggest recorded drop. But we can’t do less with less – we have to do differently with less. That means dismantling old hierarchies, decolonising aid, and putting local leadership at the centre.”

HAG’s Eranda Wijewickrama pushed this further, noting that slogans won’t shift systems, people will. He reminded us that real change demands individual courage too; leaders willing to share power, rethink structures, and sometimes even to step back. While he was frank about the broken promises of global commitments, Eranda ended on a hopeful note, saying, “community-led action and mutual aid are gaining ground, and progressive INGOs must amplify this momentum by putting local expertise truly at the centre [of our work].”

The human element behind the system

But transforming systems is only half the story. A powerful panel on the second day of the event turned the mirror inward.

“International systems often burden, rather than empower, local actors, forcing them to mimic INGOs through endless forms and donor hoops,” Catherine Russ of INTRAC, an organisation that offers training to local NGOs, said.

Her message was clear: We must move from gatekeeping to genuine co-creation and see local civil society as drivers of change, not just service providers to tick boxes. She pointed to bold experiments such as NEAR’s flexible fund and the Pledge for Change as proof that culture and incentives can shift when trust leads the way.

The Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities’ Maurice Bloem reminded everyone that no reform will stick without the human element behind it. He reminded us that trust, empathy, and mindset – what Catherine called the ‘heartset’ – are as vital as any technical framework. “Without these, even the best-designed systems won’t deliver the solidarity we claim to stand for.”

Both panels left us with much to reflect on. They invited us to question and build partnerships that transform not just our programmes, but also ourselves.

The value hidden under a mountain of paperwork

As well as interrogating the bigger picture, sessions throughout the event brought Islamic Relief staff and partners together for a deep dive into what real partnership means on a day-to-day basis.

Perhaps nothing captured the reality for local partners more than Sunday Awulu from the Nigerian Red Cross Society, who told his “bittersweet story” of wrestling with due diligence forms.

“When we saw the call for partnership from Islamic Relief, I said, ‘let’s give it a try…’”

His polite response unleashed a mountain of paperwork. “When the documents came – that’s when my sleepless nights began. Day 1, day 2, day 3… day 6 [spent working on them]. By day 7 I was asking myself, why did I do this to myself?”

But Sunday stuck with it and saw what others didn’t: the value hidden beneath the mountain of forms. Working on the documents forced his team to reflect, organise, and strengthen systems they might never have tackled otherwise.

His story resonated because it captured exactly what had echoed through our group discussions: the real cost of good partnerships, the hoops we ask local organisations to jump through, and the quiet perseverance, late nights, lost weekends, and unspoken resilience behind every signed agreement.

Islamic Relief as a partner

The second day also saw us reflect on Islamic Relief’s role as a partner, asking: How can Islamic Relief become the partner our partners want us to be?

This time, we split up; partners in one group, Islamic Relief staff in another. First, we dreamed big. Then, we got real.

Partners painted a vision of partnership as a living relationship, not just a transactional one. They asked for mutual trust, shared decision-making, freedom to disagree, clear roles, and long-term commitment.

Islamic Relief staff shared many of the same hopes; open communication, shared purpose, power and risk sharing, and genuine accountability at every level.

Of course, making these ideals a reality isn’t always so simple. Both sides know the pain points: the drag of due diligence, the drain of rigid policies, the funding gaps that don’t match the ambition, the reporting that can feel more like policing than partnership. But they also see what works; from Islamic Relief’s Strengthening Response Capacity and Institutional Development for Excellence (STRIDE)’s practical capacity building, to joint research, global representation, and moments when Islamic Relief listens and adapts.

Turning commitment into action: What happens next?

While the event involved a lot of valuable discussion, we didn’t stop at just talk. Together, we mapped out clear next steps, asking: What will actually work? What matters most right now?

When the votes were counted, 3 priorities rose to the top:

• Investing in partnership management capacity: Good partnerships don’t just happen, they need skilled, supported people to nurture them.
• Simplifying due diligence: Making forms easier, faster, fairer, with digital tools and plain language to help local partners navigate the process.
• Dedicating resources to local partners: Committing time, people, and funds so local partners can grow, lead, and sustain their work on their own terms.

The end of the forum marked the start of real work ahead. With a clear action plan, and leadership’s commitment to turn ideas into reality, we’re moving beyond good intentions to lasting change.

A note of thanks, with gratitude

In the end, we want to express our deepest thanks to the partners who made this Forum possible. Their energy, wisdom, and commitment shaped every conversation and reminded us what meaningful partnership truly looks like:

Konsorsium untuk Studi dan Pengembangan Partisipasi – Konsepsi
Associação dos Jovens e Amigos de Govuro– AJOAGO
Ajuda de Desenvolvimento de Povo Para Povo – ADPP
Mülteciler
Al Mobadara
Intercommunity Development Social Organisation
Nigerian Red Cross Society
Lamu Women Alliance
Union pour la Promotion/Protection, la Défense des Droits Humains et de l’Environnement – UPDDHE
Bureau d’Informations, Formations, Échanges et Recherches pour le Développement – BIFERD

We look forward to shaping this journey hand in hand with our partners, proving that strong partnerships aren’t just imagined, they’re built together.