*This episode originally aired in October 2023, and includes new interviews recorded days before the first anniversary of the war in Sudan. Hajooj Kuka, external communications officer for the Khartoum State Emergency Response Rooms, updates host Melissa Fundira on how mutual aid groups are scrambling to avert a famine, how badly needed funding continues to be bogged down by bureaucracy, and why he believes Sudan’s emergency response rooms should inspire a change in how humanitarian aid is...

Israel has continued to choose violence, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, an independent journalist of Palestinian descent, tells host Ali Latifi that “this is not just a humanitarian crisis. It’s a global moral crisis.” What’s Unsaid is a bi-weekly podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.   

Today’s First Person story comes from Fatma Jaffar, a Yemeni humanitarian worker and the policy and advocacy lead for Oxfam Yemen. Fatma describes the dire humanitarian situation in her country and how Yemenis have kept each other alive throughout nine years of war. The ongoing conflict in Yemen is featured in The New Humanitarian’s annual list of ten crises that demand your attention now, which highlights places in the world where needs are rising, aid budgets are cut or insufficient, and...

As Yemen’s war continues, a new project by The New Humanitarian shares personal testimonies that show how the devastating conflict has changed life for millions, while the rest of the world wasn’t paying attention. And how important it is that we keep listening.  Nuha al-Junaid, project coordinator for the The Yemen Listening Project, tells her own story of war and migration with guest host and Middle East Editor, Annie Slemrod.  What’s Unsaid is a bi-weekly podcast by The New Humanitarian...

For nearly 40 episodes, Rethinking Humanitarianism has been hosted by Heba Aly. But this time around, Aly joins the podcast as a guest. Since 2007, Aly has worked with The New Humanitarian, and IRIN News before, in many different roles. It’s a journey she started as an intern, and recently finished as the CEO. In this season finale, Aly joins host Melissa Fundira to reflect on her career and the evolution of humanitarian journalism, how the humanitarian sector has (or hasn’t) changed, and...

A project to turn Kenya's refugee camps - some of the largest in the world - into self-reliant communities where refugees can live, work, and set up businesses among their local hosts was recently launched. Host Obi Anyadike asks Victor Nyamori, a researcher and adviser for Refugee and Migrants’ Rights at Amnesty International, what he thinks of this idea, dubbed the Shirika Plan. Given his work on legal protection for Kenya’s refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps, is he optimistic...

A Mercy Corps staff member describes life in the sliver of southern Gaza where 1.2 million people are sheltering in desperate conditions.   The author’s name is being withheld for safety given the security situation in Gaza. Their First Person essay is read out by The New Humanitarian's Freddie Boswell.   This essay was written before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to prepare plans for a ground invasion of Rafah and for the ‘evacuation’ of the...

Medical missions are a lifeline to stressed health systems, usually in developing and post colonial states, but they can also be caught up in, and manipulated by, the politics of the powerful. Host Ali Latifi asks Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president and co-founder of MedGlobal, a medical NGO, whether dismissal over medical neutrality is getting worse. What’s Unsaid is a bi-weekly podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s...

They say two things in life are certain: death and taxes. But taxes – and how they’re collected – are anything but certain, and certainly not fair. Every year, nearly $500 billion in tax is lost to corporate and individual tax abuse, enough to vaccinate the world against COVID-19 three times over, or provide basic sanitation to 34 million people. Another $5 trillion is projected to be lost in the next 10 years as multinational corporations and the ultra-wealthy use tax havens to underpay...

When danger comes, foreign aid workers are often flown out, leaving behind local staff to risk their lives. Othman Moqbel is the CEO for Action for Humanity, an international aid agency trying to provide protection equally to all staff.  What’s Unsaid is a bi-weekly podcast by The New Humanitarian where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.  

Crises are mounting, and their impacts are overlapping and rippling across the globe. Emergency response has grown more complicated, and more costly. What’s the way forward? Each year, The New Humanitarian publishes our list of trends driving humanitarian needs and shaping crisis response. From military sieges and water scarcity to ‘deterrence’ migration policies and governments’ refusal to deal with ‘pariah’ states, we unpack some of the key factors that will see an estimated 300 million...

Migration policies are making borders tougher to cross and pushing people to risk their lives along ever more dangerous routes. Is there a way to stem the rising number of migrant deaths? Eric Reidy, The New Humanitarian’s migration editor, and host Ali Latifi discuss why we’re likely to continue to see a high number of deaths in 2024 and explore better policies to keep people safe.  What’s Unsaid is a bi-weekly podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable...

For as long as the international humanitarian sector has existed, its top jobs have been overwhelmingly occupied by white Western men. And yet, most of the people affected by their decisions come from the global majority. One, rarely exercised, tactic to address this power differential is for Western leaders to step aside or be willing to turn down coveted top positions in favour of historically marginalised leaders – especially those whose lived experience gives them a better understanding...

*This episode was originally published on November 23, 2023. Human rights lawyer and war crimes investigator Yasmin Sooka joins host Ali Latifi in a conversation about using the word “genocide”, and why language matters – in the middle of a crisis, and in the aftermath of mass violence. What’s Unsaid is a bi-weekly podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.

*This episode was originally published on January 11, 2023.  Time and again, guests on this season of Rethinking Humanitarianism have called for systemic changes to the humanitarian system and global governance – from alternatives to the UN to revolutionised global climate financing. But how can you imagine something you’ve never seen before, while being grounded in the realities of today? In many ways, this is the domain of science fiction. The writer and activist Walidah Imarisha once...

Refugees International, The New Humanitarian, and Asylum Access hosted an event on the sidelines of the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva for a candid conversation about how to truly include refugees in the policy decisions that shape their lives. SPEAKERS Sana Mustafa, Asylum Access CEO (moderator) Ana Maria Diez, President of Coalición por Venezuela and Fellow at Refugees International Matai Muon, South Sudanese refugee and graduate student Mohammed Naeem, Deputy Director of Strategy and...

From new conflicts in Gaza and Sudan, to flood disasters in Libya and East Africa, to earthquakes in Morocco, Syria, and Türkiye, humanitarian crises around the world drove more than 350 million people to need help in 2023. While funding to address those needs reached record levels, so too did the funding gap. Only a third of the $57 billion that humanitarians appealed for this year was actually received – the largest shortfall in years. For the last episode of 2023, we reflect on the...

Could talking about aid diversion actually help people who need aid?  Ashley Jackson is the co-director of the Center on Armed Groups and a former aid worker. She has researched aid diversion in Afghanistan, Somalia, and elsewhere, and joins host Irwin Loy for a candid conversation.  What’s Unsaid is a bi-weekly podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.  

Ala Majid Khayrullhah, a medical student and climate activist, shares what he witnessed in Libya a month after the devastating floods.  The New Humanitarian aims to amplify the voices of refugees, asylum seekers, and people affected by conflict and disaster - placing them at the centre of the conversations about the policies and events that shape their lives. Find more first-person stories on TheNewHumanitarian.org

Human rights lawyer and war crimes investigator Yasmin Sooka joins host Ali Latifi in a conversation about using the word “genocide”, and why language matters – in the middle of a crisis, and in the aftermath of mass violence. What’s Unsaid is a bi-weekly podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.  

Even before Israel’s current siege, 80% of Gazans relied on international humanitarian aid for survival, according to the UN. But under international law, it’s the occupying power’s responsibility to provide food, shelter, medicine, and other essential needs.   Have aid agencies historically let Israel off the hook by failing to challenge the very thing that creates the need for aid in the first place: Israel’s occupation? And if decades of humanitarian response in the region have...

Palestinian peace activist Nivine Sandouka discusses the difficult way forward for building trust between Israelis and Palestinians. Hosted by Irwin Loy. What’s Unsaid is a bi-weekly podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.  

An anonymous aid worker reflects on their time in Palestine as they watch Israel's bombardment and siege of Gaza and the escalating violence in the West Bank. Today's First Person essay is read out by The New Humanitarian's Elise Campbell-Bates. The New Humanitarian aims to amplify the voices of refugees, asylum seekers, and people affected by conflict and disaster - placing them at the centre of the conversations about the policies and events that shape their lives. Find more first-person...

Palestinian-American writer and journalist Mariam Barghouti joins host Ali Latifi to discuss how both mainstream media and aid policy help muffle Palestinian perspectives.   What’s Unsaid is a bi-weekly podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable truths around the world’s conflicts and disasters.  

It has been six months since a military conflict in Sudan began claiming thousands of lives and triggered, according to the UN, the world’s fastest growing displacement crisis. As international NGOs and the UN struggle to access certain areas, decentralised mutual aid networks – known as emergency response rooms (ERRs) – have stepped in to fill the vacuum.  In acknowledgement of this reality,  donors, international NGOs and UN agencies are trying to shift their programmes to support these...