The role of INGOs in a localised humanitarian system was explored through scenario-thinking and back-casting from various plausible futures. Kaira Zoe Alburo-Cañete (The Hague Humanitarian Studies Centre) shared insights from the Future of Aid 2040 report. It reached 900 participants worldwide and deliberately centred local NGOs, community groups, and people with lived experience of crises. JoJanneke Spoor of CARE Netherlands explained how CARE, as a leading organisation fighting global poverty, is reassessing its future role. She posed the provocative question of whether INGOs would still have a place at all in a truly localised humanitarian system.
In lively conversations participants agreed that the system is shifting, also by external forces. The challenge is to cut through the vested interests and find the courage to imagine new ways of working that connect local, national, and global action. Glimpses of a different future were offered: trust-based funding models, new donors from the Global South, and digital tools that could finally give donors the confidence to support local leadership. In such a system, INGOs will still have a role, but a different one. They would support, not lead, local responses; do fundraising and resource mobilisation; and connecting lessons across countries and contexts.
Read the full report here
Text: Roeline Knottnerus
Illustrations: Sophie Struijk
Pictures: Cordaid, MSF, UNICEF
