Letting Go: The Future of Humanitarian Aid and Development

As global crises intensify and aid budgets tighten, the humanitarian and development system is being forced to confront a difficult reality: the current model is no longer sustainable at the scale required.

For decades, international actors have shaped how recovery and development are delivered. But as resources decline and calls for localisation grow louder, a fundamental question is emerging - what does it mean to shift power, funding, and decision-making to those closest to the crisis? And what must be let go in the process?

David Sanderson’s latest book, Design for Disaster Recovery, takes on these questions head on. At this Sydney launch event, a panel of voices from humanitarian leadership and the Pacific will explore how the system is changing in practice - from locally led disaster response to the pressures facing global NGOs - and whether a more equitable model is truly taking shape or whether the sector is simply being reshaped by scarcity.

This is a conversation about more than reform. It is about who leads, who decides, and what the future of aid and development could look like when the old model no longer holds.

SPEAKERS

Professor David Sanderson, Inaugural Judith Neilson Chair in Architecture, University of New South Wales

Dr Betty Barkha, Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion Technical Adviser - Pacific, Save the Children Australia

Dr Tazrina Chowdhury, Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Moderated by Dr Melissa Phillips, Director, RDI Network

This event is free to attend and open to all. Join us in-person at the University of Technology Sydney or online via Zoom. Drinks and light refreshments will be served.