Rethinking Humanitarianism: Adapting to 21 Century Challenges

Some of the most important organizations presently
responsible for preventing, preparing for and
responding to the sorts of humanitarian challenges
that are anticipated in the future are failing to do so.

This bleak assessment of the humanitarian system
in 2007 provided a much needed wake-up call. Five
years later, this call has apparently been heard.
Humanitarian actors are increasingly aware of the
need to adapt to the twenty-first-century
challenges, and literature is abundant on the required changes.

The question remains, however,
whether the measures currently being considered
will successfully meet tomorrow’s challenges.

The aim of this report is not so much to anticipate
the nature and scale of future humanitarian needs;
other studies have done that with brio. Instead, it
examines the type of responses being considered
within the humanitarian system to adapt to this
changing world. It aims to generate discussion on
some of the unavoidable tensions that such an
ambitious undertaking is raising. No single
humanitarian actor—or group of actors—will be
able to address the numerous challenges ahead
alone. The diverse skills and approaches available
within, but also outside, the humanitarian system
will all need to be associated with the effort, while
managing the tensions that such a collective effort
inevitably creates.

After sketching out the ill-defined boundaries of the humanitarian system to explain its origins and define the scope of the enterprise, this report focuses on the challenges faced by the system today and identifies the outline of a shared adaptation strategy. The last section reflects upon some of the tensions inherent in this ambitious program and raises key questions about the future of humanitar- ianism.