Humanitarian aid workers have long sought to spark reform within a sector resistant to change — one guided by bureaucratic international bodies criticized for being far removed from the people they’re designed to serve.
Now, with the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, less than a year away, U.N. officials are taking a critical look at humanitarian finance mechanisms in an effort to redefine how humanitarian aid is designed and implemented.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month appointed a high-level panel on humanitarian financing that will analyze funding gaps and inefficiencies and submit recommendations for reform in November.