Time to let go: Remaking humanitarian action for the modern era

Despite a decade of system-wide reforms, the humanitarian sector is still falling short in the world’s most enduring crises. The humanitarian system is simply not doing a good job in the eyes of the people it aims to help.It is time for the humanitarian sector to let go of some of the fundamental – but outdated – assumptions, structures and behaviours that prevent it from adapting to meet the needs of people in crises.

This is a proposal for radical change to create a humanitarian system that is fit to respond to the challenges of both today and tomorrow. It calls for:

• letting go of power and control;
• letting go of perverse incentives; and
• letting go of divisions to embrace differences.