Navigating the Limits and Evolving Role of Humanitarian Aid

Panel 1: Gaza, Sudan, and the limits of humanitarian action

9:00am-10:15am (ET)

In both Gaza and Sudan, humanitarian advocacy, diplomacy, and action have utterly failed to mitigate spiraling human catastrophes. Why? It’s time to have a brutally honest conversation about the factors preventing aid organisations from mounting meaningful responses in both contexts. What do these failures say about the sector overall, and does the definition of humanitarianism need to expand to incorporate other forms of action that can help alleviate human suffering? This event was co-organised by Refugees International and The New Humanitarian. 

The event was moderated by Eric Reidy, Editor and Reporter, Migration and Special Coverage, The New Humanitarian, who was joined by:

• Thaer Ahmad, MD, Palestinian-American emergency medicine physician and board member of humanitarian aid organization MedGlobal, through which he participated in a volunteer medical mission to Gaza
• Hanin Ahmed, Emergency Response Room volunteer and Sudanese activist
• Arwa Damon, Ex-CNN Senior Correspondent and President & Founder of INARA 
• Alex de Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University and one of the foremost global experts on Sudan and famine 
• Jeremy Konyndyk, President of Refugees International, humanitarian advocate and seasoned emergency operator who has served in senior appointments in two U.S. administrations and in a range of U.S. and overseas NGO leadership positions 

Panel 2: If not aid, then what?  

10:30am-12:00pm (ET)

Can power truly shift in a sector whose origins are rooted in colonialism? If not, what lies beyond the international aid system as we know it? This panel, convened by The New Humanitarian, the Center for Transformational Change and Refugees International, will examine the systemic limitations of the current global aid architecture, whether it can evolve for the better, and what comes next.

The event was moderated by Lina Srivastava, founder of the Center for Transformational Change and co-host of The New Humanitarian’s upcoming podcast, Power Shift. She was joined by:

• Hanin Ahmed, Emergency Response Room volunteer and Sudanese activist
• Alex Gray, Director, International Funds at The Center for Disaster Philanthropy
• Aarathi Krishnan, Founder of Raksha Intelligence Futures and former Head of Strategic Foresight at UNDP Asia-Pacific
• Nadine Saba, Co-founder and director of Akkar Network for Development-AND; Grand Bargain Sherpa