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
23:30 – Cash as a disruptive force
36:06 – How systemic change actually happens (in three steps)
43:23 – "People don't care about our jargon"
50:18 – Fear, funding, and the myth of neutrality
53:13 – If the system is so misaligned, why keep it?
59:31 – Tammam and Christina discuss why this podcast collaboration came to be

Got a question or feedback? Email podcast@thenewhumanitarian.org or post on social media using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism.

This episode was made in collaboration with Start Network as part of a series that explores what really drives change in the humanitarian system, and what it tells us about future efforts to transform the system for the better.