There are so many great ideas and reflections on humanitarian action out there that it might be worth sharing a selection here from time to time, for reading and inspiration. Sometimes, what others write about the issues that keep you up at night helps you come to terms with them with a bit more peace.
A shared feeling
"Every day, as I read the news, I feel more abandoned. So I seek out others who, like me, once felt anchored in a shared belief in the importance of solidarity with humanity. I continue to engage with as wide a diversity of people as possible, listening to their perspectives. Through these conversations, I have come to realise that the humanitarian values people hold most dear vary significantly. These differences surface not only in how individuals or organisations interpret humanitarian principles and the humanitarian imperative but also in how they perceive their own role, their worldviews and what solidarity truly means. The challenge is compounded by the fact that we rarely take the time to deeply examine what our core values as humanitarians really are."
Peter Hailey, on Linkedin. February 25, 2025.
On empathy (and its exhaustion) in humanitarian action
"When staff operate in emotional autopilot, it affects the quality of our decisions, our relationships with affected communities, and ultimately, our ability to respond with humanity. Detached humanitarians cannot deliver truly human-centered aid. [...] We should celebrate not only operational wins but also acts of empathy, care, and emotional integrity within our teams."
Liana G, on LinkedIn. March 21, 2025.
Some optimism in difficult times for humanitarianism
"Most people in rich countries are not selfish. They do care about poverty and think we should do something to help. But we haven’t done a good enough job of showing people how effective aid can be. In all four countries surveyed by DEL (US, UK, France, Germany), less than a third of people think that development aid is effective—far fewer than say they are concerned about poverty and think we should give aid."
Lee Crawfurd, on LinkedIn. March 13, 2025.
The role and power of humanitarian actors must be reconsidered...
"The UN was never meant to implement aid. It was designed to facilitate diplomacy, coordinate states, and set global norms. But today, it has become the largest aid implementer, the most powerful gatekeeper, and the central bottleneck to real systems change. It dominates the flow of funds, the entire logic and culture of the aid system, shaping a self-preserving ecosystem that is increasingly disconnected from reality. Bureaucratic, insulated, and resistant to critique, it perpetuates a deeply embedded culture that has normalized optics over outcomes, reports over results, and institutional survival over impact."
Suleiman A, on LinkedIn. March 22, 2025.
"Humanitarians pay lip service to localization but they remain in their humanitarian aid bubble. [...] Their coordination systems are self contained and insular. They live and work apart from the societies and the people for whom they profess to toil. [...] They sustain presence and programming where governments and civil society should step in and up instead. With all this intact, localization will remain marginal as a force for change."
Arjan Hehenkamp, on LinkedIn. March 24, 2025.
…along with the necessary new purpose of a humanitarian action in crisis
"Over the past 2 decades humanitarian action has vastly expanded its scope and scale of action. In doing so, it has lost its specificity: immediate lifesaving action in acute phases of crises and conflicts in situations where governments are unable and unwilling to provide basic services and protection themselves. This expansion was never desirable and it is certainly no longer tenable."
Arjan Hehenkamp, on LinkedIn. March 19, 2025.
Blog
External links
- Peter Hailey, 2025. Imperfect Reflection #5 - What Do We Really Stand For?
- Liana G, 2025. When Empathy Wears Thin - A Quiet Crisis in Humanitarian Work.
- Lee Crawfurd, 2025. Don't give up on aid just yet.
- Suleiman A, 2025. About reimagining the system.
- Arjan Hehenkamp, 2025. About aid reform.
- Arjan Hehenkamp, 2025. About whether to reform or to defend humanitarian action.
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