Shifting humanitarian practice begins with the courage to question the ethics of what we have been doing.
This was the call made by Patrick Gathara of the New Humanitarian at a global roundtable hosted by the European Union and the Institute of Development Studies in Brussels on 15 October 2025.
The roundtable summarised in this paper included panellists from the European Union, UNOCHA and the New Humanitarian, case studies from Colombia, Sudan, and Somalia and contributions from individuals, NGOs, umbrella groups, and the UN.
It is now widely accepted that assistance should be based on partnership with those affected: respecting dignity and autonomy, not only for individuals but also their communities. International humanitarianism is now tasked with renewing both its ethics and its strategies. Integrating communities into a system that has neglected them calls for more than just introducing new tools or vocabulary.
It does not mean only adding another layer to localisation policy or to methods of community engagement. It calls for a new humanitarian architecture that it is rooted in the agency of crisis-affected people, open to multiple and diverse traditions of humanitarian practice, and able to provide accountability to all parties.
This summary note explores elements of what this re-engineering could look like in practice and explores four key questions:
- How can we achieve a level of two-way transparency that facilitates active partnership with communities?
- How can we scale up community participation to a global level?
- What value can intermediary organisations bring?
- How should donors use their influence to support the realisation of this agenda?