Can anything positive come out of this crisis?
Published on 24th April 2025 The decisions of the new US administration to freeze aid and abolish USAID has sent shockwaves through the system. USA is the largest bilateral ODA...
Are humanitarian workers immune to “India syndrome”?
The author takes an in-depth approach, bringing readers close to the daily reality, so that we might better understand the difficulties an NGO may encounter when setting up in India....
Researchers and humanitarian actors: moving from mistrust to efficiency
In spite of some notable bridge-building efforts and much joint work carried out in recent years, researchers and humanitarian actors continue to regard each other too often with suspicion rooted...
How to co-produce transdisciplinary and plural knowledge to solve complex humanitarian problems? An illustration in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Delving deeper, Camille Maubert and Jeremy Allouche shine a light on what the tensions and dilemmas might be. In addition to those inherent to the conflict of cultures between aid...
Between threats and opportunities: the Canadian response to Covid-19
How did Canada, which has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, organise itself? This collective of authors has undertaken a particularly instructive detailed review. We learn how non-governmental organisations,...
Distorted representation of the Other, neglected modernity and truncated partnerships: why humanitarian advocacy must be decolonised
The call for decolonisation of many areas of social life is increasingly being heard in the international aid sector. For the author, one of the workstreams should concern the advocacy...
Chronicle of a foretold manipulation of humanitarian aid?
This article cannot be termed a survey but it has much to say about the increasingly strong signs — for anyone willing to notice them — of the growing influence...
An analysis of ethical dilemmas in medical internships in countries with limited resources
What are the cross-effects (advantages and disadvantages) of humanitarian missions in fragile contexts? New light is shone on this long-standing issue through the lens of medical internships in countries with...
Partnerships with private operators: the necessary debate among NGOs
To conclude – temporarily – this Focus, Anne-Ael Pohu addresses the particularly enlightening case of “private development companies”, these companies that were created almost exclusively to intervene on the field of development and...
Refugees wedged between corporate malfunctions and the lack of State involvement: the example of a cash programme in Cameroon
Cash-transfer programmes are now widespread in humanitarian settings, just as partnerships with companies that promote them. Here is the case of the Gado Badzéré refugee camp in Cameroon. For Pierre...
Interview with Patrice Paoli: “What’s important, is the mission and that everyone be inspired by common guidelines”
Patrice Paoli is the director of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs Crisis Centre. While the French State reaffirms its desire to involve companies and foundations in humanitarian...