Editorial (Humanitarian Aid on the Move No. 26)

13/12/2024

The decolonisation of aid. How do we approach such a sensitive subject? Should we do so? Are we the right people to take it on? All these questions were raised in Groupe URD before we decided that this would be the subject of our 17th Autumn School on Humanitarian Aid. We were influenced by the current geopolitical trend, with former colonies – those in the Sahel notable among them – demanding profound transformation in power relations between states. We were influenced too by growing demands from civil society in the ‘global South’ that their role be better recognised and supported by international aid actors. We were influenced by the antiracist struggles throughout society …

Author(s)

Véronique De Geoffroy

The decolonisation of aid. How do we approach such a sensitive subject? Should we do so? Are we the right people to take it on?
All these questions were raised in Groupe URD before we decided that this would be the subject of our 17th Autumn School on Humanitarian Aid. We were influenced by the current geopolitical trend, with former colonies – those in the Sahel notable among them – demanding profound transformation in power relations between states. We were influenced too by growing demands from civil society in the ‘global South’ that their role be better recognised and supported by international aid actors. We were influenced by the antiracist struggles throughout society …

It seemed to us that our research centre, with its view over Mont Ventoux, was a good place for the type of reflection required, enabling participants to step back a little and take time to think about the question ‘What paths towards the decolonisation of aid?’
Some fifty participants and speakers took part. Together, we explored several aspects of the subject – historical, political, financial, semantic, etc. – from personal, organisational and social perspectives, in a safe space carefully managed to aid this type of discussion.

Our three days of reflection brought out the need for the humanitarian sector to challenge individual and collective attitudes that militate against the transformations expected, and needed, in a system that is still pervaded by the legacy of the past – and must therefore redefine its way of operating. The prevailing mood during the 2024 Autumn School suggested that more is needed than simple deconstruction to change boundaries; we need an injunction to take things further.

We hope that this issue of Humanitarian Aid on the Move, which includes articles as well as testimony from some of our speakers and participants, will recapture the lively sense of our discussions aiming at ‘a renewal of solidarity’, and play a part, too, in reflections among aid actors, whether as individuals, within organisations or in other collective spaces.