Ensuring that local and national actors can access overheads has become a key focus for humanitarian reform efforts over the past year. Locally-led humanitarian response is more effective, more efficient and improves accountability to, and participation of, those most affected by crisis. Overheads – also referred to in this paper as ‘indirect costs’ or indirect cost recovery (ICR) – are critical for building the organisational capacity, sustainability and preparedness of frontline responders. By not providing overheads, the international aid system – including donors, UN agencies and international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) – is not adequately supporting local actors to meet the growing complexity of humanitarian response, including in situations of protracted crises where communities face intersecting risks.