The dinosaurs of international aid must adapt or die – their expensive era is over | Halima Begum

Shiny HQs, layers of management and pricey overheads are hard to defend when funds are far better spent at local level

As the UK government-sponsored Global Partnerships conference convened in London this week, against a backdrop of high living costs, reduced aid budgets and oil tankers stranded in the strait of Hormuz, it is increasingly clear that the aid sector is nearing breaking point.

The international charity network that props up the broken aid system is both under strain and part of the problem – unable to adapt to the times and increasingly unfit for purpose.