Save the Children suspends work with BCG over “utterly unacceptable” Gaza role

Will Worley and Jacob Goldberg, The New Humanitarian
Jul 8
3 min read

Palestinians collect supplies from a distribution centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the southern Gaza Strip, on 5 June 2025. Over 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces near these distribution points since 27 May. (Photo via Stringer/Reuters)

Save the Children International has suspended its longstanding partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a leading US-based management consultancy, citing its “utterly unacceptable” work on projects related to Gaza.

BCG helped establish the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and the US security company whose armed contractors staff its sites in Gaza. GHF, a US- and Israeli-backed organisation, has been widely rejected by the global humanitarian community as a dangerous, militarised food distribution scheme serving Israel’s war aims.

The Financial Times reported on 4 July that BCG also created models of how much it would cost to “relocate” large parts of the Palestinian population outside of the Israeli-occupied territory.

In an 8 July email to all staff, Save the Children International CEO Inger Ashing referred to the FT’s reporting, saying BCG’s involvement in setting up the GHF and “modelling a plan to forcibly relocate Palestinians from Gaza” was “utterly unacceptable”.

The firm’s calculation of the per person cost of displacing Gazans, and weighing of that amount against the cost of reconstruction, was “devoid of humanity, disregards fundamental rights and dignity, and raises serious ethical and legal questions”, Ashing added.

“We suspended our work with BCG on June 13 and we are now awaiting the outcome of their review,” Save the Children spokesperson Belinda Goldsmith told The New Humanitarian in an email sent on 8 July. BCG’s involvement in creating the GHF was first reported in June.

Save the Children has collaborated with the American management consulting company since 2006, working “side by side… on its highest priorities”, according to the BCG website.

Since the GHF began operating at the end of May, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and thousands wounded by Israeli forces in the areas near its four distribution points. Amnesty International said the militarised aid distribution model is part of ongoing war crimes and genocide committed by Israel in Gaza.

“I was appalled and deeply disturbed by the allegations [against BCG]”, wrote Ashing.

BCG has sought to distance itself from the controversial work on modelling the large-scale forced displacement of Gaza’s population, characterising it as unauthorised and “run secretly outside any BCG scope or approvals”. A statement on BCG’s website says: “We fully disavow this work. BCG was not paid for any of this work.”

BCG employees, according to the company, have contributed to Save’s programmes, been seconded to the organisation, and even served on its boards – which was especially controversial during the INGO’s downsizing last year. Patrick Hayden, Save the Children International’s chief strategy officer and deputy CEO, previously worked at BCG for more than a decade.

Save’s “collaboration” with the company “included pro bono and low-bono support on areas such as organisational design, digital transformation and ways of working”, said Ashing.

Her email said that Save staff met with BCG leaders after the newspaper reports about the company’s work in Gaza. “Following that, we suspended all ongoing work with BCG pending the outcome of their external investigation and asked all Member teams to do the same,” wrote Ashing, referring to national-level Save the Children organisations.

The charity is now “awaiting a formal response” from BCG, added Ashing, who also stressed Save’s “firm solidarity with Palestinian colleagues”.

Save’s decision highlights the often controversial role of management consultants within the aid sector.

“Some humanitarian organisations are keen to access the private sector’s core competencies and skills, often through the secondment of private sector human resources,” according to a 2018 paper by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The report outlined several key concerns over the role of private sector groups in relief work, including the instrumentalisation of aid for political aims.

Publicly, management consultants often provide international NGOs with advice on business development and organisational change. Their participation with aid work sometimes ventures into more specialist areas, such as evaluating programmes. BCG’s website has a page on its humanitarian response strategy consulting, which emphasises efficiency and using technology. Company employees have also authored numerous aid-focused papers.

BCG has deep relationships with UN agencies, having worked extensively with the World Food Programme and advised on the restructuring of the World Health Organization, while critiquing the agency’s Ebola response. Other international NGOs the company has worked with include the International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance), the Gates Foundation, and Welt Hunger Hilfe.