Quoted during KUNO’s expert meeting on the Humanitarian Reset launched by OCHA’s emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher, this line by management scholar Peter Drucker captured both the urgency and the tension running through the discussion.
There was broad agreement among participants: in the humanitarian sector, change is overdue. Traditional models are struggling to meet current needs, funding is collapsing, and the needs are greater than ever. The Humanitarian Reset, now entering its second phase, offers a framework for transformation of the UN-system that forms a key element in humanitarian action. But as the meeting showed, while the ambition is welcomed, questions remain over whether the political will, funding structural change and trust required for genuine reform will materialise. In the interest of making scarce resources stretch further, there were urgent calls for more pooled and flexible funds, genuine localisation and structured donor coordination to avoid duplication.
Read the full report here.
Text: Roeline Knottnerus
Illustrations: Sophie Struijk
Picture: Sebastiaan Soeters
