Ms Karol Balfe:

The principle of locally led development is very visible in one of the most difficult situations in the world right now, which is in Gaza. Action Aid is supporting five partners in Gaza, one of which is a maternity hospital. Since October, the staff there, like everyone else in Gaza, have gone through complete hell. The director of the hospital was arrested by the Israel Defense Forces, IDF, in November and has not been seen since. The hospital has been bombed. Staff have been killed. They have had to move from the north of Gaza. They set up in Rafah, but have had to move from there and they are now trying to keep going with a mobile clinic. They belong in fact to the only entity supporting the 55,000 pregnant women in the Gaza strip. That is an example of what locally led development means in practice in a horrendous situation. It is extremely difficult to get aid into the Gaza strip and it has been, but that is an example. We have been able to get money in via PayPal. We have been able to continue to support. That is probably one of the strongest examples I can think of at the moment of locally led development.