Is ‘decolonised aid’ an oxymoron?

When The New Humanitarian hosted a private convening on decolonising aid earlier this year, the conversation in the room revealed a chasm within the humanitarian aid community. 

There are two very different schools of thoughts on decolonising aid. Some in the room defined decolonisation as a call to reform an otherwise worthy endeavour. Others saw it as a call to end aid altogether.

Are these two approaches mutually exclusive, or can they co-exist? Is decolonised aid even achievable within our current global governance system? 

On the latest episode of Rethinking Humanitarianism, host Heba Aly discusses these tensions with one of the leaders of the movement to decolonise aid, Degan Ali, executive director of Adeso.