“We’ve been here before. We know what acting slowly does,” said Jeremy Taylor of the Norwegian Refugee Council about the unprecedented drought that’s pushing the Horn of Africa to the brink of famine.
While the Russian invasion sucks in media attention (and donations for Ukrainians), many other large-scale crises are quietly getting worse.
Climate change is not driving mass migration to the Global North. That doesn’t mean those most affected don’t need help.
Years of political unrest, under-investment in agriculture, and repeated earthquakes and storms have left 4.3 million people facing acute hunger.
“Build back better” became a guiding mantra after the earthquake struck in 2010, but Haiti has struggled to follow it and prepare for future disasters.
“In the face of climate collapse, it’s time for the North to start looking South — and learn from its people and journalists.”
‘Afghanistan heading for chaos unless action taken immediately’ – Islamic nations
Afghanistan’s economy spirals: For the first time, there are similar levels of food insecurity among urban households as drought-hit rural ones.
The Taliban have inherited databases and technology that could be used to identify people linked to previous regimes or international forces, or members of persecuted groups who have received aid.
What lessons should humanitarians take away from the past 20 years in Afghanistan? Was the role of Western aid agencies helpful or hurtful? Were they impartial or complicit?
In its rush to help Afghanistan, the humanitarian world risks superimposing costly, parallel systems that ignore what already exists: a functioning public health sector, Afghan NGOs waiting for support, and aid agencies that have operated amid a complex crisis for years. The West always acts like it knows better at the cost of local empowerment.
The world is moving in the wrong direction and faces “a pivotal moment” where continuing business as usual could lead to a breakdown of global order and a future of perpetual crisis.