Update (February 2026): A second round of the Rethink consultation is underway. Click here to learn more and take part: https://makingsenseofcrisis.org/rethink2
As we await the humanitarian reset big reveal, here is the final write up of The Big Humanitarian Rethink Pol.is consultation.
What resonates most this week are these widely supported statements:
📣 “Reform is direly needed, but there’s a risk the same system is recreated without challenging the status quo and shifting the locus of power.”
✊ “The system cannot reform itself and the reset needs to include perspectives from communities, including radical voices.”
Huge thanks to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts and vote on each others’. I think we really learned a lot from and about each other.
Read and discuss previous findings:
What does localisation mean?
“Localisation” received more comments than any other theme in our consultation.
Participants diverged into two voting blocks
we might call them the “re-imaginers” and the “improvers”.
Points of agreement
⏱️ The need for change is urgent. If we don’t seize this moment, nothing much changes.
🏢The system has become bogged down in bureaucracy, too top heavy and too slow.
👂It is failing to listen to crisis-affected people and to hold governments to account.
🔭 There is a lack of vision and reform can’t happen without critical challenge.
💸 Donors and the competitive funding system are part of the problem.
🇺🇳 The UN is in dire need of reform.
🌏Localisation is part of the solution, but what that really means is much less clear.
Download the final summary:
Originally posted on LinkedIn.