The pivotal role of research and knowledge in guiding development can not be understated. Researchers provide essential insights that guide and shape the sector, uncovering trends, challenges, and opportunities. Their work is crucial in informing strategies and practices for impactful and sustainable development. In 2024, as the sector gets more complicated, these insights are needed more than ever before. Three leaders of research and insights into the sector share their thoughts on the year ahead.
Read on to hear from:
- Solstice (Soli) Middleby – PhD Candidate at the University of Adelaide
- Josh Hallwright – Deputy Director at the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership
- Beth Eggleston, Director at the Humanitarian Advisory Group
1. Reflections on 2023, what were the most significant developments or challenges in the global development sector?
Soli described 2023 as “a woeful year in many ways” marked by global conflicts and disappointing action on climate change. She lamented the lack of leadership, and our country’s poor policy and transactional relationships in the region. And the devastating loss of the Voice election. But “despite all that horror”, at a personal level, there are still things to be grateful for, “it is easy to see all the disfunction but there is always another story unfolding and that is the one I want to lean into.”
Josh followed the woeful year, highlighting that “The significant and continuing increase in humanitarian need from a wide range of conflicts, crises, and disasters”.
While for Beth, policy changes in Australia were a signpost of a new direction in the sector. “There’s lots of examples of language around non-transactional partnership and a lot of listening, which I feel is really exciting,”. Feeling that there is the start of a groundswell towards shifting power, accountability and listening. However, she also acknowledged the overwhelming scale and complexity of challenges faced by agencies, especially in light of polarizing and complex situations, which have impacts far beyond the physical locations where they occur.
2. Key Ideas for 2024, what do you believe should be the primary focus areas for the global development sector in the coming year, and why are they crucial?
“The humanitarian sector needs to be redefined, going beyond a focus on local humanitarian leadership or even decolonising aid to be much more inclusive and relevant to people affected by crises “ says Josh. Redefining the actors, resources and standards of assistance. For Josh, the big ideas have atrophied and there is now a gap to fill, one that needs to be filled soon to respond to the needs of millions.
Beth discussed the potential of technology, particularly AI, in humanitarian efforts. “Can AI help us do more with less?” as the sector grapples with less funding and resources, in 2024, can technology help move things forward. Whether setting targets for anticipatory action, removing mundane tasks from organisations to allow time to focus on relationships, or supporting greater engagement with local actors. While there is a lot of work needed in safeguarding and protection in AI, the possibilities also need to be explored and built.
Soli, following form Josh, spoke of the need to reevaluate the sector, and look with a critical lens. “Aid, of its current character is not development. Rather, it is an unchecked donor-driven system, beset by excessive power and control to benefit the system and its agents. Such aid may result in some success, but it systematically fails to empower Pacific agency and to reduce aid dependency.” Her recent paper, with Dame Meg Taylor explored this idea further.
3. Technology, Innovation, and Transformation, What trends do you see in terms of innovative thinking in the development sector in 2024? Do you see technology playing more (or less) of a role in development in 2024?
Building from her hope for AI in the previous question, Beth looked at how do we support greater adoption of tehc in the sector, and how to move away from arisk averse thinking. “How can we not be stepping up, to try and explore how to use some of these new technologies? I feel like we don’t have the luxury to be risk averse at this point. We need to be using every tool in the toolbox that we can.”
AI was also the focus for Soli, excited for the role AI and technology can play in revolutionising the aid landscape. She spoke about a friend’s work in using AI to create models that might eliminate the need for numerous aid intermediaries. “This seems one way these developments might serve us better. For me, AI has become a friend who I actually enjoy engaging with“.
Josh rightly pointed out the new tech has been in the humanitarian space for decades. AI will impact funding and marketing, but its transformation in humanitarian response is less. “The important insight is that humanitarian crises occur in broader contexts, and it is these broader contexts that are affected the most by emerging tech.” For 2024, “I don’t see the wide range of emerging tech fundamentally altering the humanitarian systems and landscapes in 2024.”
4. Localisation, How will the discussion move to action this year in localisation?
While localisation has seen action over the last 15 years, for Josh there as still systemic barriers to progressing the commitments and goals of localisation. He focused back on his first comments on redefining the system. “Much greater attention needs to be placed on the ‘boring revolution’ – how contracts and partnership agreements are made, how accounting practices need to shift, how Board KPIs need to shift, etc”
Soli started her response with a simple question: “That all depends on what you mean by localisation “. If it represents local communities running projects that are still essentially led by donors there has been some movement and reform, but issues of ‘black cladding’ and reinforcing the status quo are growing. If localisaiton means a more towards locally led, decolonized development, then we haven’t made much progress. The sector “continues to refuse to share real power and actors that continue to justify this all as ‘good intentions. All that said, outside the global development sector, I see plenty of locally-led development happening, but sadly not benefitting from easy, helpful access to resources.”
Beth discussed localisation in terms of looking at the transfer of power, decision-making, influence, advocacy, and traditional knowledge. “We get very stuck just on the dollar sign, which is important, but if we only focus on the financial aspect of localisation, we’re not stepping properly into looking at the transfer of power”. She highlighted the importance of walking the talk in terms of empowering and following the guidance given by local organisations and communities.
5. Personal Aspirations – what are your goals for 2024, and what role do you aim to play in achieving these goals?
Soli expressed her desire to contribute positively and meaningfully to her community and beyond. “I hope to be a generative presence in my own small way, connected to my family and friends and to the planet”. She also looks forward to learning more about Ngunnawal country from its Elders and reflecting on actions she can take as a settler Australian, and finishing a sequel to meetyourgrandma.com with Oceanic artist Aunty Fonu. But in Development, she will continue to call out the whitewashing and white saviourism that plague the sector, “I hope we can build a bigger community of these brave people in Australia, those who are willing to sit with the discomfort, and find bigger and more strategic and generative ways to create change.”
Beth’s aspirations revolve around maintaining agility and innovation within her organisation. “To remain nimble and not bureaucratic, to keep pushing the envelope,” and explore new ways of developing a healthy work culture and support her team effectively. Beth also emphasises the importance of staying in tune with the sector’s needs and challenges, ensuring her work remains relevant and impactful.
Josh shared his ambition to progress in leadership and “continue working with amazing people worldwide who understand the issues profoundly and are working to change the landscape for the better”. He aims to expand the offerings of the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership globally, in more languages, and not limited to traditionally defined humanitarian crises.
6. Hope for 2024, What are you most excited for in 2024 in Global Development?
Beth expressed curiosity about the sector’s potential to reinvent itself. “I’m interested to see if the sector is going to reinvent itself in the way that it has to”. But, the mix of geopolitics, elections, climate, and some many other factors all play on what 2024 can look like. Looking further, it’ll be 30 years since the Rwandan Genocide, an event which catalyzed a lot of the humanitarian sector, and a time to review where those reforms have taken us.
Josh’s hopes for 2024 are centered around peace and leadership. “I hope for less war and conflict. I’m excited by the opportunities to support more people in their ability to provide leadership through crises.”
Soli expressed a cautious outlook, not feeling excited but instead driven by the desire to see meaningful challenges to the sector. “I am excited for those who try and challenge it in a meaningful way, whether on a small practical scale or a large strategic one”. She hopes for louder voices calling out the injustices in the sector, especially in the global north, and for governments in the global south to hold the sector more accountable. “The entrenched power structures inherent in Global Development are very hard to disrupt, but even harder if we continue to reproduce them consciously or unconsciously through our actions and practices”.