Some 5,000 representatives from nongovernmental organizations, foundations, aid agencies and dozens of United Nations member states will gather for the first World Humanitarian Summit next week. The scale of the event — the summit was originally meant for just 2,000 — is matched only by its ambitions: to reform a humanitarian system that is perpetually short on resources to address a growing number of global crises.
At issue are a host of thorny debates about how to fund, organize, coordinate and account for humanitarian aid. Discussions are expected to focus on how to make limited resources stretch further, for longer, and in situations that show no signs of resolving soon.
But the meeting won’t look like most U.N. summits. There is no single goal or objective — no negotiated document for countries to sign on the dotted line to herald a successful conference. Instead, a multitude of actors — from the largest governments to the smallest charities — will each be making their own commitments to reform.
About the authors
Elizabeth Dickinson@dickinsonbeth
Elizabeth Dickinson is a former associate editor at Devex. Based in the Middle East, she has previously served as Gulf correspondent for The National, assistant managing editor at Foreign Policy, and Nigeria correspondent at The Economist. Her writing also appeared in The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Politico Magazine, and Newsweek, among others.
Adva Saldinger@AdvaSal
Adva Saldinger is a Senior Reporter at Devex where she covers development finance, as well as U.S. foreign aid policy. Adva explores the role the private sector and private capital play in development and authors the weekly Devex Invested newsletter bringing the latest news on the role of business and finance in addressing global challenges. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked at several newspapers in the U.S. and lived in both Ghana and South Africa.
