More self-reform will not lead to meaningful change of the humanitarian system

Incremental reform efforts by humanitarian agencies to improve the effectiveness of aid will not lead to significant progress, Julia Steets argued during a panel co-organized by GPPi at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on May 24. Instead, meaningful change would require working with fewer humanitarian organizations, establishing a more geographic division of labor, and taking a stronger multi-sector approach. Building on findings from GPPi’s recent political economy analysis of the humanitarian system, panelists also discussed whether a significant shift to cash-based assistance could provide a way to achieve systemic change ​“through the backdoor.”