RealtimeAid (RTAID), a charitable partner organisation, strives to disrupt traditional power dynamics within the international aid landscape. The charity has been supporting projects and communities in Syria since 2007. RealtimeAid is a pioneer in advocating for decentralised decision-making in aid allocation, using innovative tools, taking measured risks, and drawing on a deep base of local expert knowledge.

The Local Decision-Making Award, mentors, funds, and supports grassroots projects and community nodes, providing the infrastructure support for communities to maintain and grow their own demand driven social initiatives. It was launched in partnership with FrontlineAID (FAID)

This case study illustrates the process involved in this ground-breaking approach, focusing on a pilot run in an ongoing area of conflict in the north of Syria, the city of Ar-Raqqa, between 2019-2022.

In traditional aid models, decision-making power and resources flow from donors to recipients, favouring larger organisations who hold a monopoly in term of how aid money is structured and used. RealtimeAid recognised that this hierarchy limits smaller, local initiatives' potential and, in response, sought to promote a more participatory model.

Their model envisioned communities deciding where the money goes, with a specific focus on smaller, grassroots organisations. The primary challenge lay in integrating this novel approach into existing frameworks and making it accessible and understandable for all stakeholders involved.

RealtimeAid in partnership with FrontlineAID initiated the participatory decision-making model in Ar-Raqqa in 2019. This process began with a detailed planning phase involving the creation of instructional materials in Arabic, setting guidelines for project submission, and iterating an onboarding process, as well as taking into account ethical considerations in working with vulnerable communities, how to manage data protection and safeguarding issues and ensuring appropriate compliance and due diligence requirements were in place. Given the target population were in an area of conflict, and unstable governance, enhanced due diligence processes that included sanction lists and reputation risk assessment were of particular importance. Learnings from previous iterations of this model by the RealtimAid team were drawn on to inform the implementation of this Project.

One of the critical steps in this process was to understand and address local constraints. The Project team held numerous stakeholder meetings to ensure that the model was appropriately tailored to Ar-Raqqa community needs. This included how to meet the need for a participatory process which allowed the community, regardless of gender, status, tribal affiliation, or other background to equally participate; how to negotiate the reality of an ongoing conflict zone whereby security and safety were prime considerations and the population was experiencing ongoing trauma, and how to work with an aid culture that viewed Western aid as donor driven. Given the participatory model was unfamiliar to local stakeholders, especially regarding grant-making processes, continuous engagement and communication was required, based on an agile and iterative process.

The team developed the Local Decision Award, refining the timeline, project criteria, and eligibility, before advertising it through the Decentralised Network, which had over 40,000 members. The participatory process lead to 248 unique submissions from the community within a week of announcing the call for applicants. Collaborating with partner, Greater Than, an organisation which specialises in local decision-making tools and processes, the tool, Co-budget Platform was set-up. 71 submissions fit the criteria and were invited to submit their project ideas on the platform designed specifically for community decision making. These idea submissions resulted in 25 concrete projects that were shared for community discussion and voting directly by individuals in Ar-Raqqa City.

The community voting resulted in 5 shortlisted projects that were prioritised for funding, two of which were funded. All 25 shortlisted initiatives received a micro sum of funding.

An intervention by local political leaders put a sudden halt to the project. RealtimeAid’s expertise in the local context played a pivotal role in conflict resolution, allowing the project to resume. Another complexity came from understanding cultural norms. The nuances of power hierarchies, personal affiliations, gender, and age norms within Ar-Raqqa proved challenging in aligning with the initially envisioned methodology and assumptions of a participatory decision-making process. This methodology, whilst effective in Western, English-speaking nations, required thoughtful adaptation to function in the context of Ar-Raqqa.

Implementing an online tool for decision making amongst a cohort where understanding of such platforms was minimal posed a considerable challenge. This emphasised the importance of flexibility in the approach and the necessity of meeting communities where they are, technologically and culturally.

The socio-political backdrop of Ar-Raqqa added another layer of complexity. With the area still scarred from past conflict, ongoing conflict, public participation in civil society initiatives was risky. Known social activists faced potential arrest, imprisonment, or even transfer to prison in Damascus. Any kind of project work in such contexts had to be sensitive to local realities in order for any kind of humanitarian intervention to be ethically viable.

These challenges and learnings underscore the critical importance of context-aware strategies in international aid efforts. A deep understanding of the local landscape—its culture, politics, and technological capabilities—can not only mitigate risks but also maximise the potential for sustainable

The participatory decision making initiative laid a foundation for sustainable, community-led development that has served to deepen local community networks, amplifying grassroots work, and served to strengthen capacities of grassroots organisations to seek independent sources of funding.

RealtimeAid conducted a Network Analysis Study post implementation to further understand the impact of the Project, identify gaps in access and to inform future interventions.

For further information about the Ar-Raqqa participatory decision making project please get in touch at info@faid.io