Leopard spots and the problem of change: crisis in the humanitarian sector : Shared by Peter McDermott

by Marc Dubois ODI
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Summary
Marc DuBois argues that the humanitarian sector is in a deep crisis, triggered by steep U.S. and European aid cuts, but also by long-standing failures to reform.

While some see this moment as an opportunity for a “humanitarian reset,” he contends that past reform efforts reveal strong internal resistance that has kept the system stuck in place. Drawing on examples from the Grand Bargain, accountability initiatives, and repeated UN reform pledges, DuBois notes that change has too often remained superficial, serving donor and institutional interests rather than the people in crisis. He warns that the sector’s “spots” — rooted in colonial legacies, saviourism, and entrenched structures — will not change unless the broader environment is transformed. Real shifts, he suggests, have come mainly from external forces such as #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, and climate movements. The Advisory Panel on the Future of Humanitarian Action, of which DuBois is a member, aims to push the sector toward a more foundational reimagining of values, power relations, and accountability.

Quotes

• “The leopard cannot change its spots. And yet these spots – the lingering intersection of race, gender, religious identity and various colonial legacies in the daily practices of humanitarians – are nowhere near as beautiful as the leopard’s, and so must change.”

• “The sector […] is getting stuck in the weeds: unable to achieve meaningful change, it has become caught in a churn of plans, activities and (usually self-generated) reports.” — Humanitarian Advisory Group

• “If you want to change the leopard’s spots, you don’t change the leopard, you change the trees in which it lives.”

• “Harsh reality calls for what some will dismiss as ‘pie-in-the-sky’ thinking: the ‘current humanitarian system was designed for a world of geopolitical consensus, linear crises and steady, discretionary funding that no longer exists’.” — Tammam Aloudat

• “Collapse of ‘Western values’ as a framework for international engagement [...] is an opportunity to create a new framework where ethics are not dictated by geopolitics and are not considered tools of control.” — Patrick Gathara