“Today, the global humanitarian system is on the brink of collapse.” – European Commission

© UNICEF/Ibarra Sánchez – A five-year-old boy walks admist the ruins of destroyed buildings in Majdal Zoun, in South Lebanon.

It has been 18 months since the “humanitarian financial tsunami” struck us, triggering a profound upheaval in relief efforts and organizations. Everyone is adapting and everyone is searching for a new model. Through its articles, interviews, and reports, Défis Humanitaires intends to actively contribute to information, understanding, debate, and the search for alternatives so that humanitarian action may survive.

What do the key figures tell us?

ALNAP, a network of international and national humanitarian NGOs, has just published a very interesting 2026 Report (1) on global humanitarian aid. I will highlight just a few figures and indicators that give a clear picture of the situation.

International humanitarian aid has fallen by a third since 2023, and there is a risk that fragmentation and divergence between actors could undermine aid itself.

Among the key figures, note that:

The humanitarian aid budget stood at 47.4 billion US dollars in 2023, compared to 33.3 billion in 2025, due to cuts by the main donor countries.
In 2025, 18 of the 20 largest crises saw their funding decrease, even though the European Union increased its contribution to these countries.
This is leading to “hyper-prioritization,” which selects who receives aid, particularly in protracted crises. 152 million people have thus been pushed to the back burner of aid this year.
This contraction in funding is affecting localization and the humanitarian-development-peace Nexus, risking the sacrifice of the transition process.
The decision by the United States, which remains the world’s top donor, to route funding through OCHA (the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) is transforming its coordinating role into that of a funding-access manager.
Private funding is following the same trend, having fallen by 40% from its 2022 peak.
In its report’s conclusion, ALNAP calls for “radically rethinking the situation” and developing a “new vision for humanitarian action.”

The question now is how much funding will decline further in 2026 and 2027. Will the decline continue, or will it stabilize?

© ALNAP – 2026 Report on humanitarian aid, page 2

The European Commission steps up.

All actors are moving and repositioning themselves. This is particularly true of the European Union, a major partner that is becoming increasingly important in this context.

In a document (2) published on May 27, 2026, it sent a communication to the European Parliament and the European Council of Heads of State and Government, titled “Defending values, driving reform, delivering results: the European Union’s humanitarian action in a changing world order.”

One can appreciate the phrase “changing world order,” amid the war in Ukraine and the one in Iran and the Middle East.

In this document, rich with observations, commitments, and key actions, I have selected a few points that set the tone and indicate the direction. It is structured around three pillars: protect, perform, partnership.

To protect means helping to prevent, mitigate, and resolve humanitarian crises. A clarification is needed here. The risk lies in conflating humanitarian crisis with war, which would be a serious mistake. A humanitarian crisis is the consequence of a war that becomes amplified for the population in a poor country. Indeed, is it even possible to resolve a humanitarian crisis without resolving the war that caused it in the first place?
The term “humanitarian diplomacy” is emerging strongly, both to promote humanitarian principles and International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
In a context of growing political and geopolitical division, preventing the politicization of aid is clearly reaffirmed.
The protection of humanitarian workers in the field is prioritized at a time when insecurity for them is increasing.

© Hulo – Coordinated flight towards Bangui (ACR) organized in May 2026 by Hulo, BIOPORT and the Airbus Foundation transporting 32 tons of aid (medical material, food support, logistic equipement and hygiene products)

To perform means reforming humanitarian supply chains, with a draft charter as a centerpiece. I invite you to refer to the two articles on hulo in this edition.
Simplification appears to be on the agenda, with a reduction in administrative burden. We would very much like to believe this, if the Commission finally follows through on this simplification!
Strengthening flexible multi-year funding. It’s written down — now do it!
Partnership.
The crisis facing the humanitarian system cannot be addressed by humanitarian actors alone. Certainly true, but only on the condition that principles are respected.
The integrated approach to rising global fragility aims to tackle its root causes. But with what resources?
The call for private-sector involvement is growing stronger, notably through the World Economic Forum. A humanitarian “instruction manual” still needs to be put in place.
The European Commission reaffirms its determination to promote “Team Europe.” While it’s true that coordinated synergies can generate real added value, one must be wary of the temptation to want to direct everything, in a world where the diversity of actors is an asset, and where interoperability effectively strengthens partnership.
The European Commission announces a first assessment of this strategy in 2028 — that is, just as the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework begins. What will the humanitarian aid budget be then, along with that of the emergency reserve fund?

© European commission/hulo – Hadja Lahbib on the left, Pauline Chetcuti and Maria Groenewald on the right (VOICE)

Going beyond the identified approaches, to the roots of the crisis!

The diversity of actors naturally calls for a diversity of approaches and solutions, adaptable to each one. This is a prerequisite at the scale of the ecosystem.

We have already discussed, here as elsewhere, these approaches and solutions — whether cost reduction, pooling of resources, innovation, coordination, or even mergers between NGOs, the private sector, and individual donors. We won’t go back over this today, as it is well known and already underway to varying degrees within humanitarian organizations. We will continue to follow these initiatives for our readers, as we do in this edition with two articles on resource-pooling with hulo.

But it is of great importance to understand the change of era we are living through, in order to conceive of a strategic break for the humanitarian sector. Since the 1980s, we have lived through four major periods in international relations.

The Cold War in the 1980s and the birth of modern humanitarianism. The period from 1989 to 2001, marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the USSR, followed by the resulting breakup in Yugoslavia and elsewhere. The shift into the war on terror triggered by Al-Qaeda’s attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and the disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And then the rupture caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 22, 2022, and Donald Trump’s first election. This period intensified further in January 2025 following his second election. Beyond this president’s whims, what is at stake is a profound and lasting strategic shift.

© PAM /Gustavo Vera – Rescuers go through the rumbles of a building destroyed by the earthquakes that hit Venezuela on June 2026

The essential takeaway is that humanitarian aid, which had continuously grown and become more organized since 1980 — over 45 years — experienced in 2025 a massive, sudden halt and a retreat, as if its necessity had become marginal, if not pointless, in today’s world. The accelerated decline in official development assistance (ODA) for humanitarian aid and development is not a mistake or an accident, but the result of political decisions driven by shifting priorities and agendas. Have we fully understood all the reasons behind this, and have we drawn all the necessary lessons from it?

The situation in France is serious, as Coordination Sud has warned us that the government has frozen allocated funding for 75 aid organizations, amounting to 61.6 million euros! Where do things stand? How can we trust the State’s word? I fear our country is gravely ill from its debt, and that the coffers are empty!

The European Commission’s document states that there are currently 130 conflicts worldwide — more than double the number recorded 15 years ago — and they account for roughly 70% of global humanitarian needs.

The vicious cycle we are entering is this: in the face of rising conflicts and humanitarian needs for populations, the response is a drastic reduction in resources! How can one believe this will not lead to an expansion of conflicts, a greater number of victims, and collateral effects for everyone, if we fail to address the root of the problem — both geopolitically, by seeking to contain crises, and humanitarianly, by limiting human devastation and offering hope of recovery. Continuing down this path would be not only a moral failing but a political and geopolitical mistake.

Public opinion, moreover, is not mistaken about this. Let us recall that the IFOP study (3) across the 7 G7 member countries found that 64% of their populations believe that what is happening in developing countries or in humanitarian emergencies could have a significant impact on their own lives. This is why support for these populations reaches 75% (66% in France). And the public is asking to be better informed! A message for humanitarian actors!

© Corentin Vacheret – Emergency aid provided by Triangle Génération Humanitaire to Sudanese refugees in the Korsi district, North of the Central African Republic

In conclusion.

Commissioner Hadja Lahbib, in charge of humanitarian aid for the European Commission, recently published a timely op-ed titled “Humanitarian diplomacy can no longer be relegated to the margins of international politics.” The reality is that it is the populations in danger who are being relegated to oblivion!

We, as humanitarian workers, must not only continue our work, as Triangle Génération Humanitaire (TGH) shows us in this edition in Birao, Central African Republic. We must also adapt our communication and demonstrate why and how this essential, effective, well-managed aid has positive consequences for us as well. Here I am speaking of humanitarian policy, not ideology.

I would go further and address myself to sovereigntists, of the left as well as the right. The legitimate defense of one’s own country — true everywhere, for every country — is compatible with providing relief to populations of other countries in distress. It is, in fact, their responsibility and their honor!

Alain Boinet.

Footnotes :

Alain Boinet is the president of the association Défis Humanitaires which publishes the online review www.defishumanitaires.com. He is the founder of the humanitarian association Solidarités International of which he was director general for 35 years. Moreover, he is a member of the Humanitarian Consultation Group with the Crisis and Support Center of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, member of the Board of Directors of Solidarités International, of the French Water Partnership (PFE), of the Véolia Foundation, of the Think Tank (re)sources. He continues to go to the field (north-east Syria, Haut-Karabagh/Artsakh and Armenia) and to testify in the media.

Discover other articles from this edition :

50 years of geopolitics : after leaving the benches of college

Review Hérodote, Number 200-201 (1st and 2nd semesters 2026) in tribute to Yves Lacoste. Available in many libraries.

I. From Scorn to Acclaim: The Long Struggle for Academic Recognition

A Methodology in the Making

While there is now a consensus on the usefulness of geopolitics in its contemporary sense, this represents the culmination of a laborious process of rehabilitation. Established by the so-called “Heartland” theory, formulated by the British geographer Halford John Mackinder in an article published in 1904, this discipline was long despised due to its exploitation in the service of Nazi ideology. On the eve of World War II, the works of German theorists Friedrich Ratzel and later Karl Haushofer were indeed co-opted by the leaders of the Third Reich to legitimize their aggressive foreign policy and inspired, in particular, the concept of “Lebensraum.” Rightly criticized for these associations, geopolitics subsequently faced resistance from geographers who feared that integrating politics into their discipline would deprive it of its scientific rigor.

It was not until the 1980s that it regained a place within the academic community. We owe the revival of this method to the efforts of Yves Lacoste. Born in Fez, Morocco, during the French protectorate, this son of a geologist made significant contributions to the founding principles of geopolitics. Through the thematic journal Hérodote, which he founded in 1976, the geographer experimented and laid the new foundations for what is now known as “Lacostian geopolitics.” Celebrating its 50th anniversary today with a 200th issue paying tribute to its founder, the quarterly journal continues to apply the methods and concepts developed through the lens of numerous conflict situations across the globe.

Several of these pillars have played a key role in establishing geopolitics as a recognized scientific discipline. Among these, the study of the representations held by actors in rivalries is essential in that it allows us to shed light on their motivations and strategies, while also avoiding ideological pitfalls during analysis. Other distinctive features of this methodology include diatopic geographical reasoning and diachronic historical reasoning, which advocate combining different levels of spatial analysis as well as long- and short-term timeframes. Finally, Yves Lacoste departs from the traditional conception found in international relations, according to which power rivalries are solely a matter of debate among leaders. In a broader and more democratic understanding of this concept, he expands the scope of geopolitical analysis to include civil society actors.

Yves Lacoste and the Hérodote team in 2006

As the theoretical foundations of geopolitics were taking shape, its practical application began to extend beyond the pages of the journal. In 1989, the University of Paris XVIII, where Yves Lacoste taught, launched the first advanced studies diploma (DEA in Geopolitics), accompanied by a Center for Geopolitical Research and Analysis (CRAG). In 2002, these pioneering academic centers became the French Institute of Geopolitics (IFG) as we know it today. As France’s only doctoral school in geopolitics, the IFG’s faculty continues to keep Hérodote alive through its instructors and doctoral students.

Winning Over the Youth Through Secondary Education: A Well-Established Popularity

Even as the foundations of geopolitics have been laid and the discipline has found its place in university classrooms, Laurent Carroué, Inspector General Emeritus, takes advantage of this 50th issue to recount his long struggle to extend this recognition of geopolitics to secondary schools. Alongside his peers in the History-Geography Group of the General Inspectorate (IGEN), the geographer has championed his vision for geopolitics for years, despite the uncontested numerical dominance of historians. As the driving force behind the integration of this discipline into secondary school curricula, Laurent Carroué and his colleagues have sought to infuse their vision through exam topics, school curricula, websites, and even the International Geography Festival (FIG). These innovative efforts finally bore fruit in 2019 with the creation of the “History-Geography, Geopolitics, and Political Science” (HHGSP) track in high school. As he describes it, the introduction of this academic discipline thus constitutes a true “intellectual, civic, and pedagogical revolution”: geography is no longer merely subordinate to history and has earned its place in the curriculum thanks to its unique characteristics.

But beyond winning over a reluctant teaching staff, geopolitics is appealing to students. In 2024, nearly 25% of high school seniors are choosing this specialization. Several internal and external factors help explain this growing popularity. Above all, this trend draws its strength from the wide range of engaging materials tailored to a young audience that have been developed in recent years. A series of textbooks for middle and high schools co-edited by Yves Lacoste at Nathan Publishing, the organization of a “Carto Contest” by an association of the same name that has engaged thousands of students since 2010, the creation of the Géoconfluences digital library by the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, and the diversification of media formats with the TV show “Le dessous des cartes” and a variety of magazines on cartography and geopolitics… The ways to stay informed about current events and derive accessible analyses from them are constantly evolving, reinventing themselves, and exerting a significant pull on young people.

At the same time, the widespread media coverage of current events through immersive, short, accessible, and sometimes entertaining content is helping to dramatically increase interest in this field by fueling a desire to make sense of the vast amount of information consumed daily. The popularity of popular science content such as the videos by Hugo Décrypte or Pascal Boniface attests to this. We can also speculate that young people’s direct exposure to recent geopolitical upheavals, such as the war in Ukraine, through social media, may have led many of them to feel concerned, or even to fear a direct impact on their daily lives. As Pascal Ausseur points out in an interview with Défis Humanitaires, “this return to violence also reminds us of a word we had completely forgotten: vulnerability.”

While the multidisciplinary nature of geopolitics—encompassing history, political science, economics, and sociology—is appealing because it allows students to pursue cross-disciplinary career paths, it should be noted that opportunities to study this discipline in higher education remain limited. In fact, there are currently only two master’s programs in geopolitics in France, one doctoral school, and no bachelor’s degree specifically labeled as such.

Although geopolitics has gained recognition in academic and university circles, among both faculty and students, there is still a long way to go. With this in mind, Défis Humanitaires advocates for greater integration of this discipline into the humanitarian sector.

II. Humanitarian Action Guided by Geopolitical Analysis: Toward Better Risk and Crisis Management in the Field

Founded in 2011 by Alain Boinet, the journal Défis Humanitaires was initially created to highlight the cause-and-effect relationships between geopolitics and humanitarian action. Its aim is to open a space for dialogue and reflection on the innovations needed to optimize the effectiveness of humanitarian action. Through feedback from the field, analyses of conflicts and crises, and a focus on the tools developed by civil society organizations, it seeks to demonstrate that the deployment of NGOs and their programs cannot succeed without a solid understanding of the geopolitical contexts in which they operate.

As a full-fledged player in geopolitics, the humanitarian sector exerts a reciprocal influence on the territories, populations, and crises in which it operates. In the countries of the central Sahel, where Armed terrorist groups (ATGs) are rampant and exploit the failure of under-resourced states, addressing the prevailing precariousness, water stress, and limited access to healthcare can be a way to reverse the dynamics of cooperation between some local communities and these violent actors, who until then had presented themselves as the only alternative. Conversely, global geopolitics exerts a clear influence on the humanitarian sector and can easily restrict its operations. In the United States, the local context of resurgent nationalism, prioritization of domestic interests, and a return to protectionism through the “America First” doctrine championed by Donald Trump has had a crucial impact on public funding: the end of USAID in 2025.

Forced to adapt and reinvent itself due to the economic and political pressures weighing on it, the humanitarian sector would therefore benefit from taking greater account of the geopolitical contexts and environments in which it evolves, operates, and establishes itself.

Solidarités International’s HAACT (Humanitarian Analysis for Access in Challenging ConTexts) service is a perfect example. Created in 2019 to address issues related to field access and staff safety, this unit conducts remote analyses. As described on the NGO’s website, it “provides decision-makers and operational staff with visibility into the humanitarian situation in areas that are very difficult to access” and “shares actionable, conflict-sensitive recommendations on appropriate activities and intervention methods.” In 2021, the HAACT program notably facilitated a humanitarian response in the village of Ikarfane in Niger’s Tillabéri region, on the border with Mali.

© Solidarités International – The HAACT system of distance data collection

Building on the approach initiated by Défis Humanitaires, it is essential to encourage the development of similar frameworks that, by taking better account of geopolitical factors, shed light on the rivalries, strategies, and actors at play, thereby providing a clearer understanding of the risks faced by aid workers, the needs they address, and the obstacles that could hinder their activities. Accurate mapping of sensitive areas, strategic points where intervention is possible, the distribution of conflicting actors across the territory, and the narratives that drive their strategies—some of which may at times clash with the objectives of humanitarian organizations—would help optimize the effectiveness and relevance of humanitarian action.

After 50 years of advocating for the recognition of geopolitics in academic circles, it is essential to continue this substantial work to better integrate the discipline into professional practice.

Salomée Languille.

Intern at Défis Humanitaires and Graduate student at the French Institute of Geopolitics.

Discover the other articles of this edition :

Share :

Share :