The international aid sector is approaching a breaking point, according to Halima Begum, who argues that large charities must adapt or face extinction. Speaking at the Global Partnerships conference in London, Begum highlighted that shiny headquarters, layers of management, and high overheads are increasingly hard to defend when funds are better spent at the local level.
Despite years of championing localisation and decolonisation, large international charities remain structurally resistant to change. Power, funding, and decision-making are still concentrated in the hands of staff and boards far removed from grassroots organisations. This creates a fundamental contradiction, as the very organisations advocating for change are often the least able to deliver it.
Begum questioned the morality of a UK-based charity spending £120 million a year on fundraising primarily to generate and support jobs in the UK, rather than channelling funds to locally led organisations in countries like Sudan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. She argued that international structures are so bureaucratically layered that they drown out local voices.
She called for a drastic reduction in large infrastructure, allowing national civil society, particularly feminist and grassroots organisations, to shape the agenda. Begum suggested that some large charities may need to transition, merge, shrink, or step aside, as the current system cannot be preserved in its current form.
A new model of giving is needed, one that channels resources directly to local actors, builds trust and solidarity, and redefines accountability around communities rather than intermediaries. Begum proposed a simple test: can organisations show that at least 90% of their funding flows directly to locally led organisations with real decision-making power? If not, they are propping up a system that benefits elites, not the grassroots.
