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 aid cuts.

Guests:

Faiza Hassan, director of the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies

Got a question or feedback? Email [email protected] or post on social media using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism.

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 behind the scenes at COP, and what humanitarians and everyday citizens can do while negotiators wrestle over targets and funding.

Guests:

Will Worley, staff reporter and editor for policy at The New Humanitarian Namukabo Werungah, staff editor and reporter for breaking news and social at The New Humanitarian

Got a question or feedback? Email [email protected] or post on social media using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism.

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, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Canada

Dr. Polly Pallister-Wilkins, political geographer and associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam ____

Got a question or feedback? Email [email protected] or post on social media using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism.

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 Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. ____

Got a question or feedback? Email [email protected] or post on social media using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism. ____

SHOW NOTES

• The New Global Struggle Over Gender, Rights, and Family Values
• Rethinking Humanitarianism | The aid sector's LGBTQI+ blindspot

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 emergencies.

Guests:

Emily Dwyer, co-founder of the humanitarian and development organisation, Edge Effect.

Jasmin Lilian Diab, director of the Institute for Migration Studies at the Lebanese American University. ____

Got a question or feedback? Email [email protected] or post on social media using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism. ____

SHOW NOTES

Edge Effect

The moral imperative to protect Lebanon's LGBTIQ+ displaced

Institute for Migration Studies

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 series of dispatches from the future that highlight the strategies, values, and visions guiding community-driven responses to crisis – and show what's possible.

We brought these dispatches to the heart of UNGA to grapple with what it will take to remake humanitarianism – and what must change for the system to have any future at all.

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 headquarters, and discuss what it all says about where humanitarian action is heading.

Guest:

Tammam Aloudat, CEO of The New Humanitarian, and host of the Rethinking Humanitarianism podcast. ____

Got a question or feedback? Email [email protected] or post on social media using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism. ____

SHOW NOTES

United States of America - President Addresses United Nations General Debate, 80th Session

Brazil - President Addresses United Nations General Debate, 80th Session

Colombia - President Addresses United Nations General Debate, 80th Session

Syria - President Addresses United Nations General Debate, 80th Session

Remaking humanitarianism: Dispatches from the future

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 and the Forgotten Quest for a Just World." ____

Got a question or feedback? Email [email protected] or post on social media using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism. ____

SHOW NOTES

• Peacemaker: U Thant and the Forgotten Quest for a Just World.
• Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror
• UN 80
• UN General Assembly High-level Week 2025

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 atrocity crimes.

This event brought together humanitarian leaders, legal experts, and Palestinian voices to reflect on the urgent question: What should humanitarian actors do to stop the genocide in Gaza? The discussion examined the limits and responsibilities of humanitarian action, what humanitarian efficacy means in this context, the risks and consequences of different forms of engagement, and the potential for alternative strategies when established mechanisms appear paralysed.

Ahead of the UN General Assembly, this event provided a critical space for reflection and debate.

The event was moderated by TNH CEO Tammam Aloudat, who was joined by:

• Freddie Carver, Director of the Humanitarian Policy Group, ODI Global
• Dr Shahd Hammouri, Palestinian-Jordanian lecturer in International Law and Legal Theory, University of Kent
• Dr Philip Proudfoot, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, and Co-founder of The Accountability Archive

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-in-chief of UN Dispatch, host of Global Dispatches and co-host of To Save Us From Hell

Anjali Dayal, author, assistant professor of international politics at Fordham University, and co-host of To Save Us From Hell

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Got a question or feedback? Email [email protected] or post on social media using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism.

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SHOW NOTES

• UNDispatch

• Global Dispatches

• To Save Us From Hell

• UN chief on Ukraine: Military offensive by Russia is wrong | United Nations