The 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference, held in partnership with the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, took place from April 8-9, 2025 in Doha, Qatar.
This session, convened by Pledge for Change 2030, was moderated by Marie-Rose Romain Murphy (Founder, Fondation Communautaire Haitienne-Espwa / The Haiti Community Foundation) and featured a panel of experts, including:
- Charles VanDyck, Head of Capacity Development, West African Civil Society Institute
- Patrick Gathara, Senior Editor, The New Humanitarian
- Fabeha Monir, Visual Journalist, Filmmaker and Shifting Democracy Fellow, Global Press
- Natalie Lartey, Founder and Director, Wood and Water
The discussion centred on the lessons learned from the Pledge for Change Southern-led Assessment, with a focus on reshaping accountability in the aid sector and the importance of authentic storytelling and decolonisation in humanitarian narratives. The panel highlighted the need for INGOs to shift from traditional power dynamics to more inclusive, community-driven models that enable long-term, sustainable change.
"We need to move away from the charity framework. The real challenge is seeing communities as partners, not beneficiaries. Until we make that shift, the system will remain the same."
Patrick Gathara, Senior Editor, The New Humanitarian
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Shifting the Accountability Equation and Redressing Power Imbalances in the Aid Sector
