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Humanitarian Action in a Chokepoint World

by  and  | May 13, 2026 | Documents

As humanitarian systems become increasingly dependent on fragile global infrastructures, supply chains, technologies, and political arrangements, disruptions in one part of the world can rapidly cascade across entire regions and sectors. This paper explores the growing importance of “chokepoints” — critical nodes whose failure can trigger disproportionate humanitarian consequences — and examines how systemic risks are reshaping the operating environment for humanitarian action.
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Humanitarian Action in a Chokepoint World

Adapting to Systemic Risks and Cascading Shocks 

The humanitarian system depends on invisible chokepoints — critical routes, infrastructures, technologies, and supply chains whose disruption can trigger cascading global consequences. This strategic paper explores how growing interconnected risks are reshaping humanitarian action in an increasingly fragile world.

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©2026 — IFRC Solferino Academy
This paper was authored by Ben Ramalingam and Shaun Hazeldine. Ben Ramalingam is a researcher, strategist, and author specialising in systems change, humanitarian futures, and global risk. Shaun Hazeldine is Global Innovation Lead and Head of the IFRC Solferino Academy, where he leads strategic foresight, innovation, and transformation initiatives across the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Comments were gratefully received from reviewers: Mark Bowden, John Mitchell, Sara Pantuliano, David Sanderson, Lewis Sida and Bhupinder Tomar.

Ben Ramalingam
Leader | United Nations Strategic Review of Child Rights at UNICEF |  + posts

Ben Ramalingam is a researcher, strategist, and author specialising in systems change, humanitarian futures, innovation, and global risk. He currently leads the United Nations Strategic Review on Child Rights Mainstreaming with UNICEF and the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General. Previously, he served as Chief Strategic Development Officer at UNICEF UK and Director of Strategy and Innovation at the British Red Cross.

He has led major humanitarian innovation initiatives, including the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub, and has advised on frontier technologies, climate risk, and organisational transformation. Ben is the author of the bestselling book Aid on the Edge of Chaos and co-author of Upshift. His work has contributed to major international reports, including the IPCC Special Report on Extreme Weather Events, and UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children. In 2020, he was recognised as one of the humanitarian sector’s “Change Makers of the Decade” for his contributions to improving global crisis response.

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Head IFRC Solferino Academy

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