Shrinking aid budgets, donor fatigue, debt crises, and geopolitical competition are straining the legitimacy and sustainability of existing humanitarian financing models. While many Global South countries now shoulder more of their own healthcare financing, decision-making power still concentrates among external donors and institutions — and humanitarian priorities are increasingly shaped by political visibility and alliance rather than equitable need. The panel asks why wealthier Global South economies (Gulf states, India, China, Singapore) remain only partly integrated into traditional humanitarian governance, and whether that reflects a deliberate choice to avoid systems still seen as Western-led and politically selective. At stake is not just who funds the system, but who has a seat at the table in setting its priorities, and what future architecture — of sovereignty, financing, and governance — should replace it.
