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Better recognition, funding and support of local humanitarian responders is long overdue. Many humanitarian organisations have not waited for global-level reforms within the Grand Bargain to drive the agenda forward. Instead, individuals, peer networks and organisations large and small have corrected the sector’s imbalances in their own ways. Away from the often technical or policy debates within the Grand Bargain, there are dynamic, new developments and new opportunities for hyper-local initiatives, survivor-led activities, civil society activism and South–South cooperation. These developments and opportunities are shaping the ‘localisation’ agenda beyond the Grand Bargain. The formal conclusion of the five-year phase of the Grand Bargain this year, raises questions for the humanitarian sector on how best to continue to make progress on localisation. To explore these issues, HPG and HPN convene a conversation exploring the activities and activism on local humanitarian action that are occurring outside of the formal policy processes, and how the landscape is adapting and changing to tackle old problems not being addressed by the wider humanitarian system.