Bureaucracy was meant to bring order and accountability to humanitarian action — but somewhere along the way, it became the very thing slowing it down. From endless paperwork to compliance-heavy systems, urgency is too often suffocated by process.

In this episode of Quantum Humanitarian, we explore how bureaucracy strangles humanitarian action, turning missions of service into cycles of delay. Through Ali Al Mokdad’s insights and reflections, the conversation unpacks the gap between process and impact, the misdirection of accountability, and the inertia of reform that keeps the system stuck.

But this isn’t only critique. It’s also about imagining something different — a humanitarian sector designed to serve people first, where local leaders hold real power and bureaucracy serves the mission, not the other way around.

Links:

How Bureaucracy Strangles Humanitarian Action

or

https://alialmokdad.com/how-bureaucracy-strangles-humanitarian-action/

Rearranging Deck Chairs on a Sinking Ship: The Crisis of Complacency in the Humanitarian Sector

or

https://medium.com/@almokdadali1/rearranging-deck-chairs-on-a-sinking-ship-the-crisis-of-complacency-in-the-humanitarian-sector-8985a0bdd4da

Don’t Waste a Serious Crisis

or

https://alialmokdad.com/dont-waste-a-serious-crisis/