The New Humanitarian

The UN Security Council has passed a resolution backing US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza. It authorises an "international stabilisation force", and approves a "board of peace". Essentially, this would govern Gaza, and oversee reconstruction and humanitarian aid. It also follows a playbook similar to the occupation of Iraq, warns international law expert Shahd Hammouri: "The US using...

When aid funding is tight, education is often cut first. But schools offer more than just learning, and communities say education is their priority. "We have to believe that survival means more than just breathing," says emergency education expert Faiza Hassan. On this episode: Why disrupted schooling is the norm as climate change worsens, and the argument for prioritising education in an era of a...

The UN climate summit, COP30, is getting under way in Brazil, with global temperatures rising – and global cooperation under deep strain. Ten years on from the Paris Agreement, the UN Secretary-General warns that the world has missed its targets to limit global temperature rise. The stakes are high. But do COP discussions match the urgency? The New Humanitarian journalists unpack what happens behi...

Global polls show citizens in many countries want their governments to fund humanitarian aid. But the US and other nations have gutted aid departments or shrunk budgets – with little public pushback. Has the aid sector gotten too wonky to connect with the public? On the podcast: Emergency aid's marketing problem, and ideas to win the battle for attention. Guests:  Sana Bég , executive director, Do...

The backlash against women's and LGBTIQI+ rights is growing – part of an organised movement that goes beyond one country or one president. But as Saskia Brechenmacher says on the latest episode of Rethinking Humanitarianism, concerned people – including civil society and non-governmental organisations – can take steps to counter the threats. Guests:  Saskia Brechenmacher , senior fellow in the Dem...

Global funding cuts are worsening emergency aid's weaknesses when it comes to the LGBTQI+ community. The Trump administration is explicitly targeting trans people. And gender-related programming is among the first to be cut as humanitarian groups scale back. But there are steps humanitarians can take today – even amid widespread budget cuts – to better respond to the needs of LGBTQI+ people in eme...

Remaking humanitarianism: Dispatches from the future How can we reimagine the international humanitarian system so that it builds on – rather than undermines – the response communities are already creating? What would it take to align funding and infrastructure? And what is standing in the way? The New Humanitarian and Refugees International have taken these questions around the globe, producing a...

The 80th UN General Assembly should be consequential given all that's happening: the genocide in Gaza, spiralling emergencies, aid cuts, the crisis of trust in the UN system. But does the rhetoric in New York match the urgency we see across the globe? From UNGA's high-level week in New York, producer Levi Sharpe and host Tammam Aloudat unpack events, contrast the Gaza flotilla with the suits at UN...

As world leaders gather for the 80th UN General Assembly, we're digging into the past to illuminate the present. What UN reforms are needed? Historian Thant Myint-U talks about how the UN became sidetracked from genuine multilateralism, where it should focus, and why the selection of the next secretary-general in 2026 is crucial. Guest: Thant Myint-U, historian and author of "Peacemaker: U Thant a...

As the genocide in Gaza continues, humanitarian organisations face mounting pressure and unprecedented constraints. Famine has been declared, access remains heavily restricted, and international mechanisms have failed to prevent mass civilian suffering. Frustration is growing across the sector – with some questioning whether traditional humanitarian approaches are fit for purpose in the face of at...

When is the UN a force for good, and when is it a fig leaf? CEO Tammam Aloudat speaks with Mark Leon Goldberg and Anjali Dayal – hosts of the podcast To Save Us From Hell – about the global rise in illiberalism. They discuss the crisis of how liberalism is practiced, what it means for the future of humanitarianism, and what a better way forward might look like. Guests:  Mark Leon Goldberg, editor-...

"It's not just our finances that are under attack, but it's also our morale and our legitimacy." In a fresh season of the podcast, TNH CEO Tammam Aloudat, our new host, sits down with people who have something important to say about the future of aid. In this episode, he's joined by the UN's emergency aid chief, Tom Fletcher, to discuss the humanitarian reset, the need for more mental health suppo...

On 7 October 2023, Rita Baroud was a 20-year-old in Gaza thinking about doing a master's degree. Today, evacuated to France after surviving nearly 20 months of genocide, she's a journalist who recently met with Macron and told him, "You have to stop this bloodshed".  In a special What's Unsaid episode, she speaks to Eric Reidy, our editor managing coverage of Gaza. They have been working together...

Power Shift is an experiment in dialogue that puts decision-makers in aid and philanthropy and those affected by their decisions in honest, one-on-one conversations about the aid sector's inequalities. ___ In the latest episode of Power Shift, Hafsar Tameesuddin, a stateless Rohingya refugee and LGBTQ+ rights activist, and Raouf Mazou, one of the UN refugee agency's highest-ranking officials, navi...

After a decade of fighting jihadist groups in the Sahel – and losing – isn't it time for governments to try dialogue? Speaking about her research project Negotiating with Islamist and jihadi armed groups: practices, discourses and mechanisms across Asia and Africa, Laura Berlingozzi tells What's Unsaid host Obi Anyadike she's detected a "timid openness" from the region's military juntas for dialog...

Power Shift is an experiment in dialogue that puts decision-makers in aid and philanthropy and those affected by their decisions in honest, one-on-one conversations about the aid sector's inequalities. ___ What happens when a stateless activist sits down with one of the UN refugee agency's highest-ranking officials? What if they had the chance to tell him what it's like to lose everything, to have...

Daylight abductions of permanent residents. Mass deportations with no due process. Homelessness at a record high. Outbreaks of previously eliminated childhood diseases. Sounds like a humanitarian crisis could be unfolding in the US. "When is the UN going to come in?" asks Carlos Menchaca, a legislator, activist, organiser, and former New York City council member.  What's Unsaid is a podcast by The...

Power Shift is an experiment in dialogue that puts decision-makers in aid and philanthropy and those affected by their decisions in honest, one-on-one conversations about the aid sector's inequalities. ___ In the second episode of Power Shift, we continue our candid conversation between Grand Bargain ambassador Michael Köhler, formerly a senior leader of the EU's humanitarian aid arm, and Nadine S...

Power Shift is an experiment in dialogue that puts decision-makers in aid and philanthropy and those affected by their decisions in honest, one-on-one conversations about the aid sector's inequalities. ___ Michael Köhler and Nadine Saba are just two of the many people tasked with advancing the goals of the Grand Bargain – one of the most ambitious attempts at delivering humanitarian aid more effec...

The Trump administration's aid freeze is a pivotal moment for the humanitarian sector. Veteran aid worker and TNH CEO Tammam Aloudat doesn't believe that simply restoring funding will fix a broken system. While imagining what remaking humanitarianism might look like, he makes a plea: "Let's start shifting the conversation." The New Humanitarian aims to amplify the voices of refugees, asylum seeker...

The US aid freeze has exposed not only the fragility of humanitarian funding but also longstanding dependencies, vulnerabilities, and power dynamics that demand a broader reckoning. This event will explore the urgent need for structural change, seeking clarity and ideas amid the chaos. In what we hope will be one conversation of many, we reimagine the future of humanitarian aid in an era of mounti...

The fallout from the US aid funding freeze continues. In Haiti, one of USAID's largest recipients, could this actually be a moment for optimism?  "My instinctive reaction was, maybe now we can take better care of ourselves," Haitian anthropologist and aid reform advocate, Isabelle Clérié tells What's Unsaid host, Obi Anyadike.  What's Unsaid is a podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore o...

People affected by crises, and the people who respond to them, have been calling for change and equity for years, but for every reform pledge in Geneva or New York, there's little movement in Yangon or Juba.   Changing an entire sector is a tall order. But how can an entire system change? In reality, it has to begin with conversations between people.  For months, The New Humanitarian and the Cente...

The term 'decolonising aid' is everywhere. And yet, many decisions about aid are made behind closed doors in the West, and those most affected by aid policies have little power in shaping them. But what if people who are rarely in the same room together sit down and talk? No talking points. No self-censorship. Just open, honest, and moderated one-on-one conversations. Introducing Power Shift: A ne...

Since the early days of the American west, World War Two, the Cold War, or the war on terror, conflict has been presented in the movies as having two sides: good guys and bad guys. Host Ali Latifi and Idrees Ahmad, a journalism, film, and culture professor, dig into why we brand groups and people in such binary terms – and ask what role Hollywood and the media play in ignoring the complexity of co...