From Voices to Choices

This report explores the dynamics of decision-making in humanitarian aid, looking at the trends and inertia that could move us (or prevent us from moving) to a system where people affected by crises are taking the decisions about the aid that they receive.

The report posits that people affected by crisis lack influence over aid decisions primarily due to the prevailing interests, incentives and worldview in the formal humanitarian sector, not due to gaps in the “how to.”

It seeks to support efforts to put crisis-affected people in the driver seat of humanitarian action, by exploring factors that will disrupt humanitarian business-as-usual and the broader humanitarian ecosystem, and the potential for these disruptions to shift incentives, challenge the worldview, expand options and increase people’s influence over their aid choices.