I’ve spent years inside the humanitarian system, seeing both its strengths and its struggles. This article is my reflection on the urgent need for reform.
There will always be a shortage—of time, of certainty, of resources to meet every need. But the greatest failure of the humanitarian system is not scarcity. It is inefficiency. But no shortage of expertise, no shortage of good intentions. What there is, however, is a system so entangled in its own bureaucracy that it has become incapable of responding to crises with the speed and effectiveness they demand.
This is not a logistical problem. It is not a question of resources or technical capacity. It is a failure of priorities. Aid agencies have become more focused on process than on outcomes, more concerned with compliance than with impact. They have built a system that moves at the pace of paperwork while disasters unfold in real time. The result? Delays, waste, and—worst of all—avoidable suffering.
The Bureaucratic Paralysis of Crisis Response
In theory, the humanitarian system exists to act. Yet in practice, it hesitates. A crisis erupts, an emergency is declared, and then—silence. Not action, but meetings. Not decisions, but committees. While the world watches disaster unfold on their screens, humanitarian organizations are trapped in a loop of risk assessments, funding approvals, and logistical bottlenecks.
The irony is that all of this is done in the name of accountability. But accountability to whom? Certainly not to the people in need. Every delay, every redundant layer of oversight, every box that must be ticked is justified as a safeguard. But a safeguard against what? Failure? Or responsibility? The system has become so afraid of making the wrong decision that it prefers to make no decision at all.
Who Does the Work, and Who Gets the Credit?
It is an open secret that the most effective responses in any crisis come from those closest to the ground—local organizations, volunteer networks, and community leaders. They act while international agencies are still mobilizing. They take risks while headquarters debate guidelines. They deliver assistance while large INGOs draft strategies.
Yet when the funding is distributed, when the reports are written, when the success stories are shared, these frontline actors are nowhere to be seen. They are subcontractors in a system that refuses to acknowledge them as equals. Their expertise is used, but their voices are excluded. The humanitarian system preaches localization but refuses to practice it. Because to shift real power would mean to relinquish control, and control—not impact—has become the currency of the sector.
The Illusion of Reform
Every few years, the sector makes a grand declaration: things will change. Localization, efficiency, innovation—these words appear in every conference, every panel discussion, every policy paper. The humanitarian system is constantly ‘reforming’ itself, yet the fundamental problems remain untouched.
Why? Because true reform would mean dismantling the structures that protect those in power. It would mean shifting decision-making from global headquarters to local leaders. It would mean prioritizing action over administration, impact over process. And that is a change the system, as it stands, is unwilling to make.
Technology is paraded as a solution—AI-driven assessments, blockchain transparency, digital tracking. But technology does not address the core issue. The problem is not a lack of data. It is a lack of trust. No algorithm can fix a system designed to concentrate power at the top.
The System is Failing—Who Will Replace It?
If the humanitarian system does not change, it will not survive. The world is not slowing down. Crises are growing in scale and complexity. Communities are not waiting for aid agencies to untangle their bureaucracy. They are finding their own solutions.
The future of humanitarian action will not be decided in high-level meetings. It will be shaped by those who act, who take risks, who refuse to let policy stand in the way of reality. The question is not whether change will come, but whether the established players will be part of it—or whether they will be left behind.
The greatest threat to humanitarian action is not a lack of resources, but the machinery we have built around them. The system is failing. The only question that remains is who will have the courage to dismantle it.
The Leaders Trapped by the System
There are those within the system who see the problem clearly. Many humanitarian leaders are pushing for change, calling for a shift in power, for simpler, more effective ways of working. But they are swimming against the current. The system they work within is built to resist transformation. International NGOs were never designed for the world we now live in. They were built for a different era—one where aid was delivered by outsiders, not by communities themselves. Today, they must rethink their role or risk becoming obsolete.
True change will not come from tweaking policies or adding another layer of oversight. It will come from dismantling the structures that have turned humanitarian action into an industry rather than a mission. The challenge is not a lack of ideas or even a lack of will. It is the weight of a system that has grown too rigid, too self-preserving, too afraid of what real change might mean. Until that system is broken apart, it will continue to block the very progress it claims to support.
So, What Do I Think?
The system is broken, but not beyond repair. If we are serious about change, we must go back to first principles. Why does humanitarian aid exist? What is its purpose? The answer is not to sustain a bureaucracy, but to deliver aid swiftly, efficiently, and at scale to those who need it. This means moving beyond the classic model of international NGOs acting as intermediaries, siphoning funds through layers of administration before reaching communities. It means rethinking how aid is structured—through joint country programs that pool resources and expertise rather than duplicating efforts, through direct funding to local actors rather than forcing them into subcontracting arrangements, through streamlined processes that prioritize action over administration. The world has changed. The old model no longer works. The question is not whether international NGOs will survive, but whether they will evolve—or be replaced by something better.
Ali Al Mokdad
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