Out of the box: A shrinking humanitarian marketplace

Описание: Humanitarian organisations are in the business of saving lives, not making a profit. Nevertheless, the humanitarian system does display characteristics of an economic marketplace. In the multi-billion-dollar humanitarian sector aid agencies are motivated by the need to maintain (or increase) their income as well as carry out their humanitarian mission.

At a time of skyrocketing humanitarian needs, the humanitarian market is currently shrinking as key donors decrease their funding. Several large UN agencies and NGOs have faced major budget deficits causing them to cut programmes and lay off staff, with accusations of mismanagement by those affected. This time of adversity should be an opportunity for much needed reform in the humanitarian system.

Much has been said already about how the humanitarian system is broken and in need of reform. Multiple initiatives have been launched to bring about transformative change, but few have had meaningful results. In their paper Damian Lilly and Mark Bowden suggest that it is only by addressing the economic incentives that shape the humanitarian system that progress can be made to reform it.

In our “Out of the box” online lunch talk the authors Damian Lilly (independent consultant) and Mark Bowden (retired senior UN official) presented their analysis and discussed the implications with Chilande Kuloba-Warria (Founder and Managing Director, Warande Advisory Centre) and CHA Director Ralf Südhoff.
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