International aid sector in a ‘crisis of legitimacy’, study finds

An aid truck in the city of Abala, Ethiopia, bound for Tigray. Large aid organisations need to delegate more to local actors, says the report. Photograph: Eduardo Soteras/AFP/Getty Images

International aid organisations are in danger of losing relevance and need to start thinking about “the world beyond themselves”, a study has found.

Academics talked to 50 chief executives of the world’s leading development charities and found a sector in a “crisis of legitimacy, of core identity and of relevance”.