On Thursday, 2 October 2025, a regional launch event was held at Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia), bringing together humanitarian organizations, academics, civil society actors, and representatives from regional networks to officially present in Latin America the report: “The Future of Aid 2040: Pathways to Transformation”, a global initiative led by IARAN and the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership (CHL).

The event formed part of the regional dissemination strategy of the study, within the framework of the ToGETHER 2.0 program, and was made possible thanks to the coordination between local organizations, academic institutions, and Steering Committee members of the study in the region.

Two Colombian organizations — the Asociación Salto Ángel and the Secretariado Nacional de Pastoral Social (SNPS – Cáritas Colombiana) — are active members of the FOA2040 Global Steering Committee. Both have taken the lead in promoting the report throughout Colombia and Latin America, setting an example of the strategic leadership that local organizations can play in shaping the future of international cooperation.

A Forward-Looking Study Built from the Global South

The report, developed with the participation of nearly 900 people from around the world — 77% from the Global South and 40% with lived experience in crisis contexts — outlines four potential scenarios that could define the humanitarian aid ecosystem by the year 2040:

1. Aid of Many Paths
2. Patchwork Solidarities
3. Empires of Aid
4. The Great Unravelling

Rather than predictions, these scenarios serve as narrative tools to anticipate, plan for, and transform the ways in which humanitarian aid is understood and organized, both globally and locally.

Download the Executive Summary: www.iaran.org/future-of-aid

Testimonies from Latin America

During the launch event in Bogotá, representatives of grassroots, national, and international humanitarian organizations shared their reflections through a series of video testimonies, addressing key questions such as: What should change in the aid system to better serve communities?, What unlikely possibilities could transform the future of aid if we begin to anticipate them now?

Watch the testimonial videos here:

The Journey Continues: Phase 2 Begins!

The Future of Aid 2040 initiative has now entered its second phase – Pathways to Transformation. This new stage focuses on turning the ideas and scenarios developed in Phase 1 into practical strategies for change.

Through a global process of workshops, consultations, and collaboration between local, intermediary, and international actors, Phase 2 aims to identify how different parts of the humanitarian system can adapt and work together to become more “fit for the future.”

It will also develop a Fit-for-the-Future Toolkit, designed to help organisations assess their capacities, test their strategies under different possible futures, and plan concrete steps for transformation.

By 2026, this phase will produce a set of practical tools, recommendations, and examples that can support organisations everywhere in preparing for the challenges and opportunities of the years ahead.

To learn more about the next steps of the initiative, visit IARAN’s page.