Trumanitarian

In this episode of Trumanitarian , host Lars Peter Nissen speaks with Sophie Tolstrup, Head of Policy and Climate at Ground Truth Solutions (GTS) , about their 2025 report, Whose Priorities Count? . The conversation explores the disconnect between the formal humanitarian system and the communities it serves, the rise of mutual aid, and the urgent need to reimagine aid in a "messier" world. Key Tak...

When the main oncology hospital in Kharkiv was bombed, patients started dying — not from the bombs, but from losing access to their chemotherapy. Ross Skobronski, a Spanish-Ukrainian mathematician who had come to Kharkiv to visit family just one month before the full-scale invasion, watched and waited for someone to respond. No one did. So he did it himself. Today, Mission Kharkiv serves more than...

This episode is a recording from the Start Network’s Assembly, which took place in October 2025. Lars Peter Nissen was invited to moderate a panel exploring what leadership looks like when success is contingent on the agency of others — when you cannot exercise direct control but must inspire, build rapport, and create the conditions for a group of individuals to deliver results. Rather than drawi...

This weeks guest is Gareth Owen OBE — Former Humanitarian Director at Save the Children UK (2007-2024). Gareth spent over three decades in the humanitarian sector, beginning his career in Somalia in 1993. He co-founded the START Network and served as Chair of the Humanitarian Leadership Academy . Awarded an OBE in 2013 for services to emergency crisis response abroad and holds an honorary doctorat...

As 2025 draws to a close, Trumanitarian host Lars Peter Nissen invites Meg Sattler , Adelina Kama l, and Thomas Byrnes to the Trumanitarian studio to reckon with a year that seems to have defied comprehension. The numbers tell one story: humanitarian funding has collapsed to 2016 levels, projected below $22.7 billion. This isn't a funding cycle dip but the structural unwinding of the post-Cold War...

Wigdan Seedahmed joins host Lars Peter Nissen for a conversation that drifts between code and Sudanese music, and into the quiet art of translating magic into data - without letting magic slip. Wigdan is not on autopilot. In a sector often dominated by compliance and performative intellect, she carries a rare kind of mind - one that doesn’t just react or repackage, but thinks. Her intelligence is...

What is the role of cash distributions in the humanitarian reset? That is the question that Cate Turton , the Director of the Cash Learning Partnership (CALP) Network) , Yolande Wright, the VP for Partnerships at GiveDirectly and Alessandro Bini the Director of the Somali Cash Consortium discuss with Lars Peter Nissen in this weeks episode. The conversation focuses on the current state and future...

What happens when a philanthropist shows up differently? In this episode, Maya Ghosh Bichara joins host Lars Peter Nissen to reflect on what it means to fund, partner, and build trust with integrity. Maya isn’t running a billion-dollar foundation - she gives small but catalytic grants, drawing on her experience from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to reimagine what money can do. They explore trust-...

In this special crossover episode, Lars Peter Nissen ( Trumanitarian ) and Carla Vitantonio ( Living Decoloniality ) sit down in Doha to explore the deep fault lines in humanitarian work — and why they’ve both turned to podcasting as a space for honest conversation. Carla unpacks the concept of decoloniality — the lingering structures, mindsets, and behaviors that survive long after formal colonia...

In this episode of Trumanitarian , recorded on the sidelines of the Center for Humanitarian Leadership Conference in Doha, host Lars Peter Nissen sits down with two sector heavyweights: Sofía Sprechmann, former Secretary General of CARE International, and Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International. Together, they confront some of the humanitarian sector’s most uncomfortable truths. T...

On December 8, Syria saw a major turning point: the fall of the Assad regime and the emergence of a new government. For the White Helmets , this moment opened the door to expand operations from 800 to over 4,600 communities—nationwide. In this episode, the White Helmet’s Chief of Programs, Ahmed Ekzayez , shares how the group has evolved from frontline rescue to tackling climate change, protecting...

The Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan have, over the past couple of years, become the backbone of humanitarian action in Sudan. As community-based informal organizations, the ERRs provide mutual aid to more than 2 million people in Sudan. In this week's episode Hajooj Kuka and Justin Corbett discuss the work of the ERRs with co-hosts Mabala Nyalugwe and Lars Peter Nissen .

We are at a pivotal moment for the humanitarian sector. The freeze of US foreign aid, the dismantling of USAID and aid cuts from a number of the major donors has sent shockwaves through the system. But how do we move forward and strike the balance between ensuring continuity of lifesaving humanitarian assistance while addressing serious and well-known issues with the existing humanitarian system –...

Happy international women’s day ! When women connect across generations and experiences, heart to heart, incredible things happen. In this special episode, Maeva Fages joins Rigmor Tholstrup for a heartfelt conversation about humanitarianism, yoga and resilience. Maeva, a humanitarian health specialist, yoga teacher, and Senior Country Manager for Afghanistan and Syria, shares experiences on leadi...

The ethos of 'move fast and break things' doesn't work for humanitarians. If we break things, we break people. But technology is changing the nature of conflict. International Humanitarian Law cannot evolve to meet these challenges without input from the private tech actors shaping the battlefield. This week's guest, Philippe Stoll, Senior Techplomacy Delegate at the ICRC, works to connect humanit...

In this episode, Tamam Aloudat and Richard Blewett join Lars Peter Nissen to ask the hard questions: What’s worth saving? What needs to go? Who gets to decide? ...And are we the right guys to discuss this? Tammam argues that tinkering with the system isn’t enough - we need a “non-reformist reform,” a radical reimagining of what humanitarianism even is. Richard reflects on decades of failing attemp...

Humanitarian tech initiatives fail when they start with a "shiny object" rather than a defined problem. Solutions are imposed rather than developed based on actual needs. A ‘graveyard of bad tech’ is expanding. Should humanitarians just admit they’re bad with technology? During the International Red Cross Movement Conference in Geneva in October 2024, Host Lars Peter Nissen found a quiet corner to...

Over the past week, the 90-day freeze of US foreign assistance has sent a shockwave through the humanitarian and development communities. If you ask this weeks guests on Trumanitarian the crisis will not be over in three months - Harpinder Collacott , Michael Barnett , and Meg Sattler come to the conclusion that the consequences of the aid freeze will last for years. The real question is: as the o...

Dr. Rola Hallam - a doctor, humanitarian, and Syrian advocate - joins host Lars Peter Nissen for a personal conversation on the resilience of humanity amidst chaos. Against the backdrop of Syria’s profound suffering and the fall of the Assad regime, Dr. Rola shares her journey of healing, hope, and service. She dismantles the idea of the untouchable hero humanitarian, laying bare the fragility and...

What happens when you mix cyber warfare, climate collapse, and humanitarian action with a dash of whiskey? You get Emerson Tan - a man who started as a hacker, turned humanitarian, and now designs fintech for the apocalypse. Dive into chaos: how disasters, misinformation, and the climate crisis are forcing us to rethink everything from technology to social systems. Emerson explains why the differe...

In an early episode this year, Dr. Hugo Slim warned that he would challenge the most fundamental humanitarian principle: humanity. This week, he does just that. As a Senior Research Fellow at Oxford and a policy advisor specializing in the ethics of war and humanitarian aid, Hugo brings a unique philosophical lens to the conversation, drawing on his doctorate in theology. In this conversation, hos...

This episode discusses 'community engagement': recent wins, as well as the continued struggle to move beyond tokenism to achieve meaningful change – and whether 'bureaucracy engagement' might better reflect the complexities of the engagement. In this episode, Kristin Vestrheim (Moderator), Eminenur Çınar (Board Member), and Yakzan Shishakly (Board Member) discuss their network – the Interagency Co...

In his 2021 book, Night on Earth, Davide Rodongo, professor of international history and politics at the Geneva Graduate Institute, writes about humanitarian action during the 20th century interwar period. “What they aimed to do was delusional”, he told Lars Peter. “The reality is they did a few little good things in a few places…And they aimed to civilize the entire Near East.” According to David...

The Humanitarian Club - members only! Is the humanitarian sector run by an elite network that controls the vast majority of resources and power within the sector, a closed circle that excludes outsiders? This week Trumanitarian welcomes Michael N. Barnett, Professor of international affairs and a leading scholar on humanitarianism. In one of his pieces ‘The Humanitarian Club’ (we love it), Barnett...

Simon Western, founder of the Eco-Leadership Institute, joins host Lars Peter Nissen, to explore how to bring some soul into the humanitarian space as they know it. And how the “helpless helping” tendency currently plagues it. Simon draws on his experience from psychiatric nursing to corporate leadership, and explains how his eco-leadership model - rooted in ecosystemic thinking and mutualism - co...