“You’re our guest. Act like it.” A message to aid donors

Despite this importance and their proximity to “affected people” – to whom the whole humanitarian system aims to be accountable – the knowledge and expertise of local and national actors do not carry much weight in internationally-led humanitarian action. This dynamic has bled into international policy where some have felt powerless to influence reform. Tu’itupou-Arnold pointed out that “some of us become very accustomed to it and were complacent, because changing the system honestly seemed to be out of our control.”