Spotlight Governance, Leadership and Strategy

Today, more than 180 000 local units form the foundation of the 191 National Societies in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. These units – commonly known as branches – are the primary platform for delivery of services by members and volunteers who are deeply rooted in the communities they serve, speak the local language and understand the cultural norms; they are uniquely positioned to listen to people’s needs, foster meaningful engagement and drive locally led action. As the most localised structure of any National Societypresent before, during and after crises, the branches are essential for enabling community participation, mobilising local support and sustaining long-term impact. Collectively, they form the backbone of the Movement’s unparalleled grassroots network.

Key cumulative data 2024

In 2024, the SRC provided technical assistance and support to Sister National Societies strengthening their branch network in Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Laos, Malawi, Moldova, Nepal, Paraguay, South Sudan and Ukraine.

The 2024 NSD spotlight focusses on the support provided to Sister National Societies in building strong and sustainable branch networks. The different initiatives and their outputs highlight how robust local branches play a vital role in putting good governance and effective leadership into practice.

Benin: Building a strong branch network

To carry out its humanitarian mission, the Red Cross of Benin relies on a network of 79 local committees/units across Benin's 77 municipalities and a dedicated team of more than 12 000 volunteers. This extensive network ensures strong community representation and a robust local base. A key component of the National Society’s development strategy is to further enhance the capacities of its decentralised structure.

Branch Organizational Capacity Assessment

In 2024, all 79 of the Red Cross of Benin’s committees conducted Branch Organizational Capacity Assessments (BOCA), a reflection of the entire National Society’s strong commitment. The assessments aimed to identify strengths, weaknesses and priorities based on local needs, and to help branches develop action plans to enhance their capacity to deliver quality, inclusive and sustainable services over the short, medium, and long term. The BOCA, a self-assessment tool for National Society branches, is used to evaluate core organisational capacities, structures and challenges, helping to ensure that branches are equipped to function effectively and deliver quality services.

An overall analysis of the priorities identified shows that the action plans focus on diversifying resource mobilisation methods and ensuring sustainable activities, strengthening National Society governance at the local level, promoting the emblem and the seven Fundamental Red Cross and Red Crescent Principles, and improving financial management with an emphasis on budgeting, cost-effectiveness and reporting.

A structured approach to meet strategic goals

This timely exercise provides the Red Cross of Benin with a valuable opportunity to systematically tackle the challenges ahead, ensuring steady progress towards development goals and enhancing the overall profile of the National Society. The SRC will continue to support its Sister National Society in the coming years on its journey to stronger institutional capacities and to becoming a leading organisation capable of providing sustainable, high-quality services to vulnerable populations across the country through its decentralised structures, in line with its role as an auxiliary to the authorities.

Ukraine: Branch development in emergencies

As part of a broad coalition of Movement partners, the SRC continued to support Ukrainian Red Cross Society efforts in 2024 to enhance branch capacities across the country through the Branch and Volunteer in Emergencies (BraVoiE) initiative.

Born out of the urgent humanitarian needs caused by the conflict that broke out in Ukraine in 2022, BraVoiE focuses on strengthening the organisational and operational capabilities of Ukrainian Red Cross branches, enabling them to deliver timely and effective humanitarian aid and services. Unprecedented in scale within the context of an emergency, BraVoiE stands as a prime example of National Society Development in action during a crisis.

Implementation and impact in the Ivano-Frankivsk and Kherson oblasts

SRC support for BraVoiE focused on enhancing the capacity of two regional branches – Ivano-Frankivsk and Kherson – and ten local branches. Key achievements include the recruitment of specialised staff, infrastructure upgrades and strengthened volunteer management systems, contributing to a significant 27% increase in regular volunteers across both oblasts.

Humanitarian aid delivery and community services

In Ivano-Frankivsk, National Society branches delivered over 290 metric tonnes of humanitarian aid – of which approximately 4 metric tonnes were provided by the SRC – to more than 40 000 people. Services emphasised a holistic response to community needs and focused on mental health/psychosocial support and mobile health care.

In Kherson, branches addressed critical needs through clothing banks and targeted psychosocial support for children. Despite significant logistical and security challenges, mobile distribution models were successfully introduced, allowing for quick, safe and flexible delivery of aid to vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities.

Capacity development and operational resilience

Overall, the BraVoiE initiative significantly strengthened the Ukrainian Red Cross Society’s ability to respond to ongoing humanitarian challenges. By investing in people, processes and infrastructure, it laid a strong foundation for more resilient, responsive and community-centred humanitarian action, in times of crisis and beyond.

South Sudan: Promoting branch sustainability

In 2024, a three-year initiative to strengthen the branch network of the South Sudan Red Cross came to an end. Supported by the SRC and other Movement partners, the initiative significantly enhanced leadership and governance across target branches and improved community acceptance by promoting the Red Cross’s role and mandate. Additionally, the development of a volunteer information management system improved the branches’ capacities to work efficiently with volunteers.

Income-generating activities

One of the initiative’s major outputs was a comprehensive National Society survey of the effectiveness of branch income-generating activities. Since its founding in 2012, the South Sudan Red Cross has introduced a variety of such activities, including rental services (e.g. of facilities and equipment), food-related businesses (cafeterias, restaurants, catering), agricultural projects and retail/commercial activities. The aim is to help boost financial independence, reduce reliance on external donors and ensure sustainable support for programmes and services at branch level, all while strengthening resource management capacities and community engagement in a challenging context.

Lessons learnt

The survey revealed a number of challenges, including inadequate business, financial and technical know-how of staff and volunteers, and resulting implementation inefficiencies. Weak financial systems, unclear policies and poor oversight further hindered effectiveness.

Branches with locally relevant activities performed better than those whose efforts were dispersed. Economic instability, inadequate infrastructure and operational disruptions caused by environmental factors like flooding also limited scalability and profitability. However, strong community engagement, partnerships with local authorities and guidance from National Society headquarters led to improved relevance and outcomes for some branches.

Recommendations

The findings highlight the need for targeted capacity building, clearer policies and strategic guidance to ensure that income-generating activities have a sustainable impact. The National Society plans to develop a standardised manual with operational guidelines for all branches, establish standard operating procedures for financial reporting to enhance transparency, and provide financial management training for branch staff.

The SRC is committed to continue working with Sister National Societies to strengthen their network of well-connected, community-based units able to deliver high-quality services and driven by active volunteers.