Error and trial: What really makes the humanitarian system change? | Rethinking Humanitarianism

Humanitarianism evolves, whether the system is ready or not. This six-episode series explores how.

Ben Ramalingam has spent 20 years thinking and writing about the complexity of the humanitarian system and what makes it shift.

His conclusion? It changes the wrong way around.

"We've tended to evolve not through trial and error, but through error and trial. So we respond to what goes wrong, we absorb the shock through processes which are often very painful, and then we return to something that's not too far removed from what we had before."

In this first collaborative episode between Rethinking Humanitarianism and Start Network, hosts Tammam Aloudat and Christina Bennett set the stage for a series that explores how the humanitarian system can change for the better as it faces a crisis of legitimacy and funding.

Guests

Ben Ramalingam, author of Aid on the Edge of Chaos

Nadine Saba, president of the Akkar Network for Development

Key moments

07:11 – "Error and trial" and doing the right thing too late

11:18 – Was the Grand Bargain ever really "grand"?

21:13 – Reforming policies vs changing mindsets