The humanitarian system isn't short on identity crises, soul-searching, and reform promises. So why does a system so good at diagnosing its problems struggle to change?

This final episode of Rethinking Humanitarianism and Start Network's collaborative series examines the financial and political roadblocks preventing change, why diversifying who humanitarians feel accountable to could lead to progress, the reality that change is already happening in myriad ways outside the sector's reform attempts, and what humanitarians might learn from activist movements.

Guests
Kia Howson, researcher at Start Network
Irwin Loy, senior policy editor at The New Humanitarian

Key moments
[04:40] – Why keep diagnosing the system if nothing changes?
[16:01] – "Aid is not a cause" – survival and dignity are
[17:26] – From a humanitarian system to an ecosystem
[22:43] – Diversify who humanitarians feel accountable to
[32:11] – Who's filling the void? Local groups, private actors, and competing narratives
[41:01] – What should be supported as the formal system recedes?
[55:44] – Listening and finding common ground in a polarised sector
[1:08:11] – "Change is an action," not just a commitment

Got a question or feedback? Email podcast@thenewhumanitarian.org or post on social media using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism.

This episode was made in collaboration with Start Network as part of a series that explores what really drives change in the humanitarian system, and what it tells us about future efforts to transform the system for the better.

Three years into Israel's genocide in Gaza, the US-led Board of Peace is already trying to determine the strip's future reconstruction plans. But what about the more than two million Palestinians who call the Gaza Strip home? And the many more Palestinians living in the West Bank or exiled in the diaspora?

Our editor Eric Reidy sets the scene for what's been happening since last year's so-called ceasefire, and then we hear a collage of Palestinian voices. They discuss the reconstruction conversations happening without them, what they want for the future of Gaza, and what the humanitarian system should do to support that vision.

Guests:
Rasha Abou Jalal, author and journalist
Amir Abu Qasim, student
Nour ElAssy, poet and writer
Shahed ElAssy, law student
Shahd Hammouri, lecturer at the University of Kent
Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam's Global Humanitarian Policy Lead
Eric Reidy, The New Humanitarian's Migration & Special Coverage Editor
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Got a question or feedback? Email podcast@thenewhumanitarian.org or post on social media using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism.

Can embracing activism inspire public support for aid, and rejuvenate humanitarianism itself? Today's guests explain why – and how – humanitarians should go from advocacy to activism.

Chloé Fiona Ludden resigned from a United Nations job and joined activists aboard The Handala, one of the dozens of vessels that tried to break Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip. "When we think about activism, it's usually something that is depicted at the fringes, when for me, the flotilla is… actually enacting international humanitarian law," she says.

Ludden and research fellow Philip Proudfoot join hosts Tammam Aloudat and Christina Bennett to examine the humanitarian system's activist roots and whether it should return to them.

Guests
Chloé Fiona Ludden, scientist and former United Nations staff; international coordinator for the Global Sumud flotilla
Philip Proudfoot, Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and the co-founder of the Accountability Archive

Key moments
[10:12] – Activism vs. advocacy
[15:15] – Leaving the UN to join the Gaza flotilla
[28:43] – Why the system won't change
[35:40] – Is it humanitarianism or a protest?
[51:30] – Solidarity and the need to redistribute sacrifice
[1:01:30] – Is this the end of humanitarianism, or the beginning of a new one?

Got a question or feedback? Email podcast@thenewhumanitarian.org or post on social media using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism.

This episode was made in collaboration with Start Network as part of a series that explores what really drives change in the humanitarian system, and what it tells us about future efforts to transform the system for the better.