After one of the most challenging years for the humanitarian system, Sudan offers both a stark warning and a source of new thinking. This episode of Think Change examines how local actors are reshaping aid around solidarity, dignity and community leadership.

Sudan’s crisis is unfolding at an extraordinarily difficult moment. Since violence escalated in April 2023, state institutions have collapsed, essential services have disappeared and millions have been displaced. Yet despite the scale of suffering, the conflict has remained one of the world’s least visible, receiving minimal political attention and limited media coverage.

But as formal systems fell away, communities themselves stepped forward. Mutual aid networks – most prominently the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) – have grown out of Sudan’s long history of neighbourhood organising and now play a central role in protecting civilians, coordinating life-saving assistance and sustaining basic services. Operating as volunteers with scarce resources, they have become the only functioning governance structures in many areas.

At the same time, global recognition of their efforts is growing. The ERRs’ innovation and courage have earned nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize in both 2024 and 2025, highlighting not only the impact of their work but also the larger challenge they pose to international actors: to reconsider power, legitimacy and the role of civic leadership when states can no longer function.

With Sudan’s future hanging in the balance, the questions are urgent. What does genuine locally led leadership look like in a moment of institutional collapse? How can global actors support community-driven resilience without undermining it? And what might the ERRs’ example mean for the future of humanitarian action worldwide?

Guests

• Sara Pantuliano (host), Chief Executive, ODI Global
• Alsanosi Adam, External Communications Coordinator for the Emergency Response Rooms of Sudan
• Luka Biong Deng, Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Peace, Development and Security Studies; Former National Minister of Cabinet Affairs of Sudan & Minister in the Office of the President of South Sudan
• Denise Brown, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sudan 
• Freddie Carver, Director, Humanitarian Policy Group, ODI Global

Related resources

• From 'ego-systems' to 'ecosystems': renewing humanitarian action (Publication, ODI Global)
• ODI Global and NEAR's advisory panel on the future of humanitarian action
• ODI Global's Sudan resources hub