Attachments
Does language have the power to change how we provide humanitarian assistance – and make it more effective? We believe that it can. What if we thought of the people to whom we deliver humanitarian assistance as partners, rather than beneficiaries? What if we talked about them less as individuals and more as part of a community system? It forces us to consider each person receiving aid as someone who lives within their wider community and political system, part of life-sustaining networks as well as being in difficulty. It forces us to think of those people as equals. What if we thought of ourselves, humanitarian actors, as contributors to communities – a part of their plans and strategies for making life better? How would that change the way we act in those communities, or the aid we deliver to them?