In many contexts, aid agencies hesitate to provide aid for extended periods because of fears that this may create 'dependency'. The best recent example is Niger where what WFP calls a 'development consensus' meant that there was a strong reluctance to introduce free food distributions.

A recent HPG report set out to analyse the concept of dependency and how it influences humanitarian action. The authors of the report, Paul Harvey and Jeremy Lind will present the findings of the research followed by a chaired debate.d