Dr Sema Karaosmanoğlu, director of Support to life and former chair of the NEAR network, is the first guest in our new series of episodes on “Contested Aid”.

CHA25 Conference Review: https://www.chaberlin.org/en/news/cha25-conference-review/

Ramesh Rajasingham, Head and Representative of OCHA in Geneva and a key player in the 'humanitarian reset', was a keynote speaker at the CHA Conference 2025. In the follow up Ralf Südhoff interviewed him in the CHAtroom studio and spoke with him about a global crisis which goes well beyond the humanitarian system, about the status and the limitations of the 'humanitarian reset' agenda, about Ramesh's response to Global South critics who question OCHA's approach for internal system reform and what the next steps will be in the much awaited reset of the international humanitarian community.

Donor letter to IASC: Suggestions for bolder action in line with Humanitarian Reset

ERC letter to IASC Principals - The Humanitarian Reset

Statement by Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher - The Humanitarian Reset - Phase Two

NEAR Statement: Breaking the Cycle of Empty Promises: The Emergency Relief Coordinator’s ‘Humanitarian Reset’ must not fail local actors again

CHA Conference 2025 Programme

CHA Veranstaltungen:

CHA Publikationen:

Recording of Panel 2 at CHA24: Doubling Down - Fragility, Conflict and Violence in the Face of Climate Change

Upinion: https://upinion.com/

Recording of Reporting of the Active Session 1 “Unusual Allies and Uncomfortable Truths” at CHA24:

“Listen to us” - Upinions session at HNPW2024: https://upinion.com/articles/listen-to-us-affected-people-reimagining-feedback-upinion-session-at-hnpw-2024/

adelphi project “Weathering Risk: Climate Analysis and Action for Peace”: https://adelphi.de/en/projects/weathering-risk-climate-analysis-and-action-for-peace

Recording of Panel 2 at CHA24: Doubling Down - Fragility, Conflict and Violence in the Face of Climate Change

Funding for humanitarian aid is decreasing and the funding gap is at a historic high. At the same time needs are forecasted to further rise by conflict and climate change. This has sparked an international debate on prioritisation. Hugo Slim, Oxford University, has shared highly controversial ideas how donors could refocus their aid. In this podcast Ralf Südhoff discusses with the former ICRC Head of Policy, why he believes political angles, proximity and good governance should become criteria for the allocation of humanitarian aid, even if this contradicts its principles to be neutral, impartial and independent.

Painful Choices: How Humanitarians Can Prioritize in a World of Rising Need

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Why might the forecasted right populist swing at the European elections be no problem for humanitarian aid? Which other major challenges needs Europe to fix to substantially change its aid approach, and to ensure its fragile financial support? And why does he regret to have not moved reform in a different, more “dictatorship like” style? Former Director General Michael Köhler of DG ECHO shares provocative views on the upcoming European elections, the need for humanitarian reform and his legacy after he retired from 30 years engagement in international affairs in a CHAtroom interview with CHA director Ralf Südhoff.

CHA Paper "Influencer Europe":

Executive Summary of the paper:

Full paper:

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Paper Webseite mit allen verfügbaren Downloads und Take Aways:

Executive Summary of the paper:

Full paper:

Dank an die Agentur transatlantika für die Podcast-Betreuung!