We are living a historical turning point. The world order, as it was created after WWII, and particularly the world we have known since the collapse of the Soviet Union (1989-1990) no longer exists. Profound political changes are underway, geo-politically but also within and between Western countries. Ideology is again a powerful driver of politics, as it was in the first part of the 20th century. Democratic values and norms are actively pushed back. Neo-liberal economics on the other hand remains strong, even though its negative consequences are now plainly visible. And the climate and extinction crises are worsening, with many tipping points now in reach.
The cumulative cuts in Official Development Assistance (ODA), particularly in 2024 and 2025, are a consequence of these broader developments. Confronted with all this, in recent months most UN agencies, INGOs but also national and local NGOs/CSOs, understandably, have been focused on downsizing, searching for alternative income and sometimes mere surviving.
Yet international aid agencies, the mainstream INGOs in particular, need to seriously ask the question whether a radically different future might require a more fundamental organisational re-orientation, not just of the business model but of the very purpose, mission and modus operandi of the organisation.
Three key questions are:
1. The endless stream of ‘projects’ will never be enough to mitigate the increasingly negative consequences of the bigger trends, driven by economic, political and military elites. What must we do to also weaken and reverse the drivers of these negative trends?
2. Should we not also work on the increasingly visible social, economic and political fractures in our own (Western) home societies? Not only because we have there our support base, but because the global environmental, economic and security interconnectedness and interdependencies can no longer be denied.
3. Why are we primarily communicating about poverty, misery and need, and not much more about the millions of positive initiatives by communities, towns and cities, and the larger social movements, that give hope, encouragement and practical ideas to the many who know that things are going in the wrong direction but do not know what they can do about it?
The article contains a question sheet that helps you take the reflection from the immediate financial challenge to the deeper strategic questions. Find them here.