Exploring the perspectives and practices of humanitarian actors towards the Participation Revolution in humanitarian digital health responses: a qualitative study

As crises escalate worldwide, there is an increasing demand for innovative solutions to enhance humanitarian outcomes. Within this landscape, digital health tools have emerged as promising solutions to tackle certain health challenges. The integration of digital health tools within the international humanitarian system provides an opportunity to reflect upon the system's paternalistic tendencies, driven largely by Global North organisations, that perpetuate existing inequities in the Global South, where the majority of crises occur. The Participation Revolution, a fundamental pillar of the Localisation Agenda, seeks to address these inequities by advocating for greater participation from crisis-affected people in response efforts. Despite being widely accepted as a best practice; a gap remains between the rhetoric and practice of participation in humanitarian response efforts. This study explores the extent and nature of participatory action within contemporary humanitarian digital health projects, highlighting participatory barriers and tensions and offering potential solutions to bridge the participation gap to enhance transformative change in humanitarian response efforts.