Few doubt that there is currently a humanitarian crisis in Niger. But the scale and severity of the crisis, the point at which it turned ‘critical’ and the question of whether there is a current or imminent famine remain disputed. What seems clear is that the humanitarian response has been too slow. This paper highlights some of the questions that will need to be answered in explaining this slowness. It argues that this is not just a case of donors failing to provide resources quickly enough. The paper is based on a short review of the secondary literature, and a limited number of interviews with a range of humanitarian actors: it aims to highlight questions for further investigation.