LOOKING AHEAD In 2019, as Otaegui was preparing to retire, the ICRC was assisting millions of people in one hundred countries around the world. Needs had shifted from the Asia and the Pacific region (50 per cent of relief beneficiaries in 2009) to the Middle East and North Africa (51 per cent of beneficiaries in 2019) (see Exhibit 6), requiring increased responsiveness and flexibility from procurement. The ICRC's ethical procurement policy had been largely successful. Most of the ICRC's long-term suppliers had greatly improved their working environments and processes, making them more competitive and decreasing employee turnover. Since these suppliers were now aligned with international standards and national labour codes, they could also supply other humanitarian organizations. Procured goods included not just EHIS, but also food; medical, surgical, and engineering supplies; and information and communications technology. In 2018, about 66 per cent of ICRC purchases and 97 per cent of EHIS came from ethical global suppliers. Although the percentage of goods procured from global ethical suppliers had increased substantially, the supply was not enough to fulfill the local procurement needs of sub-organizational levels. First, the ready-to-ship quantities held by those suppliers along with the stocks of relief items pre-positioned in regional hubs were insufficient to meet sudden emergency needs. Second, EcoSec planned to triple its cash transfer programming from CHF50 million to CHF150 million between 2019 and 2021. A greater reliance on cash transfer programming to assist distressed populations during long-term crises increased the need to purchase relief items locally. However, the implementation of the ethical procurement policy at sub-organizational levels still posed challenges. Local purchasers had a difficult time finding ethical suppliers in their regions. They also found that visiting existing factories was not always possible due to security constraints, which imposed restrictions on the movement of ICRC staff. Assessing suppliers' compliance with international standards and developing corrective action plans was costly and time consuming. Many local purchasers also appeared to be unaware of the policy and lacked the expertise to enforce it. Otaegui therefore wondered what she could recommend to her successor to overcome these challenges and expand the ICRC's ethical procurement policy to sub-levels of the organization.