Some 5,000 representatives from nongovernmental organizations, foundations, aid agencies and dozens of United Nations member states will gather for the first World Humanitarian Summit next week. The scale of the event — the summit was originally meant for just 2,000 — is matched only by its ambitions: to reform a humanitarian system that is perpetually short on resources to address a growing number of global crises.

At issue are a host of thorny debates about how to fund, organize, coordinate and account for humanitarian aid. Discussions are expected to focus on how to make limited resources stretch further, for longer, and in situations that show no signs of resolving soon.

But the meeting won’t look like most U.N. summits. There is no single goal or objective — no negotiated document for countries to sign on the dotted line to herald a successful conference. Instead, a multitude of actors — from the largest governments to the smallest charities — will each be making their own commitments to reform.

Image: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) addresses a meeting to brief Member States on the preparations for the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), which is scheduled to take place on 23-24 May in Istanbul, Turkey. At his side is Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. UN Photo/Evan Schneider.