Will aid-for-hire become the new normal? | Rethinking Humanitarianism

In the previous episode, Fogbow CEO Brook Jerue questioned why the aid sector was so "infatuated" and critical of his company – a small private American firm delivering aid in high‑conflict contexts like South Sudan and Gaza.

In this follow‑up discussion, Beatrice Lindstrom – co‑author of a recent policy brief on the rise of privatised, militarised, and politicised aid actors – puts Fogbow in the larger context of these emerging actors, and examines why their growing "subsumption" of humanitarian roles is worth paying attention to.

Guests

Beatrice Lindstrom, senior clinical instructor at Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic; co-author of "The New Humanitarian Actors: Politicization, Corporatization, and Militarization in the Aid Sector"

Key moments

[04:54] – Private companies taking over core humanitarian roles

[07:08] – Profit motive, militarisation, and neutrality concerns

[10:41] – "Grey zone of accountability"

[13:05] – Access vs. impact

[18:31] – Efficiency is not enough

[23:58] – Legal guardrails and accountability gaps

[32:57] – At the cusp of an "aid for profit" trend