The Guardian: Will a ‘grand bargain’ solve the humanitarian funding crisis?
Charlotte Lattimer, senior policy and engagement adviser at Development Initiatives

“…[The findings from the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing’s report launched recently in Dubai] have the potential to expand the responsibility to act beyond the narrow confines of the humanitarian community. The recommendations use finance as a driving force to enrich the aid ecosystem and push for institutional changes to bridge the humanitarian and development divide. … [However,] we need a radical rethink of what we know about what makes people vulnerable to crisis in the first place and how to match their needs with the right resources. … A bigger vision is required, in which all resources, beyond just international humanitarian resources can be counted. … Turning the grand bargain into a big deal will clearly be a challenge. Vested interests, competition for scarce resources, and the humanitarian-development divide are as old as aid itself. What’s different now, perhaps, is the window of opportunity that the World Humanitarian Summit has created. Responsibility for taking the panel’s recommendations forward now passes from the hands of technical experts to those of the political and financial decision-makers who will be represented en masse in Istanbul in May…” (1/18).