The New Humanitarian

Christian Saunders was appointed as the UN’s special coordinator on improving the response to sexual exploitation and abuse in July.    The New Humanitarian’s Investigations Editor Paisley Dodds spoke with him on 19 April following his recent trip to South Sudan, where allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation surfaced last year at a UN-run camp for civilians in the northern city of Malakal.   In their wide-ranging interview, Saunders says he believes in “radical transparency”, he doesn’t think the UN should be investigating itself, and he agrees it’s time to retire the phrase “zero tolerance”.   Read more: https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/investigations and more on this interview here: https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/interview/2023/04/24/interview-fixing-un-sex-abuse-problem

25 Apr 202337min

Does the humanitarian sector have something to learn from this celebrity’s approach to relief work?  Chef José Andrés took his cooking skills to disaster zones and began distributing hot meals to people in need, via the NGO he founded: World Central Kitchen.  Their model is simple: Respond quickly after a disaster by tapping into resources already available in affected communities – local chefs – and without all the bureaucracy of a big aid organisation.  In this episode of Rethinking Humanitarianism, we explore the pros and cons of taking a different approach to humanitarianism: José Andrés says he treats his beneficiaries like “guests” at a restaurant. He speaks of the need for smaller, more specialised, more agile organisations that don’t try to be everything to everyone and pursue endless growth. And he advocates for an approach where people feel they are not working for an organisation, but for their own communities. Humanitarianism, he says, can’t remain about throwing crumbs to the poor.    Guest: José Andrés, chef and founder of World Central Kitchen

12 Apr 202354min

At the European Humanitarian Forum, The New Humanitarian's CEO Heba Aly moderates a panel on principled humanitarian action in Ukraine.

2 Apr 20231h 16min

Are more equitable trade policies possible at a time many countries are turning to protectionism? Why have developing countries and emerging economies not benefited as much from the globalised trade architecture as multinational corporations and international investors? And what needs to change for global trade to be more equitable? This episode of Rethinking Humanitarianism explores whether a re-imagined global trading system could reduce aid needs in the Global South.  Guests: Nick Dearden, Director Global Justice Now; Gyude Moore, former Liberian Minister of Public Works and Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development.

22 Feb 202344min

The COVID-19 pandemic showed that the current global health architecture is not fit for purpose. While rich countries hoarded vaccines, low and middle income countries were left behind, coping with massive global healthcare inequalities. Despite lofty promises, COVAX, the global initiative launched during the pandemic to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of tests, treatments, and vaccines failed to deliver on its promises.  This episode of Rethinking Humanitarianism explores how the global health architecture can be adjusted to make it more inclusive, and better placed to respond in a more equitable way during a future pandemic.  Guests: Petro Terblanche, managing director of Afrigen; Fifa Rahman, civil society representative at the ACT-Accelerator

8 Feb 202341min

For one week every year, some of the world’s richest business people and most powerful politicians descend on the Alpine ski town of Davos, Switzerland. They’re here for the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting, which bills itself as the premiere global forum for the public and private sectors to join forces to “drive tangible, systemic change for the future”.  But systemic change would require them to give up some of their wealth and power, like paying their fair share of taxes, or ending the stranglehold a few, mostly Western countries have over the UN’s Security Council. All the proposals for a more equitable world order that we’ve heard on this season of the podcast depend on those who have power giving some of it up. Are they willing to do so?  Critics say the global elite’s eagerness to solve the world’s problems lasts only as long as the solutions don't threaten their said wealth and power. So how are movements to reshape global governance landing with those who represent the status quo? And can advocates and campaigners for change ever really sway the global elite? Host Heba Aly takes the pulse at Davos to find out.  Hear from UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, Opens Society Foundations President Mark Malloch Brown, former Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark, president of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation Vilas Dhar, director general of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Patricia Danzi, and others. ————— If you have thoughts on this episode, write to us or send us a voice note at podcast@thenewhumanitarian.org. SHOW NOTES Director’s Dispatch: Aid and the elite Richest 1% bag nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world put together over the past two years | Oxfam International UN boss to Davos: You’re the problem | POLITICO

27 Jan 202344min

The effects of the war in Ukraine continue to ripple across the globe. We are near the point of no return for those on the front lines of the climate crisis. Soaring public debt is preventing governments from being able to prepare for crises. These trends are shaping the world – and humanitarian needs – in 2023. But what are policymakers doing about them? Listen to policymakers from both donor and national governments as they discuss their priorities for the year ahead with civil society representatives in this online conversation hosted by The New Humanitarian on 13 January. ————— If you have thoughts on this episode, write to us or send us a voice note at podcast@thenewhumanitarian.org. SHOW NOTES Trends driving humanitarian crises in 2023 (and what to do about them) Key humanitarian aid policy trends to watch in 2023 Why these 10 humanitarian crises demand your attention now

17 Jan 20231h 25min

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 said: “Any time we try to envision a different world – without poverty, prisons, capitalism, war – we are engaging in science fiction.” With science fiction, she added, we can start with the question “What do we want?” rather than the question “What is realistic?” In this first episode of the New Year, host Heba Aly looks to the future to explore how science fiction can bring about paradigmatic change by helping us believe a better world is possible. She is joined by sci-fi authors whose work speaks directly to the future of global governance and how to better address crises. Kim Stanley Robinson is the acclaimed science fiction writer behind the Mars trilogy, and, more recently, The Ministry for the Future. Malka Older is the author of Infomocracy and The New Humanitarian short story Earthquake Relief. Mexico City. 2051. ————— If you’ve got thoughts on this episode, write to us or send us a voice note at podcast@thenewhumanitarian.org.  SHOW NOTES Disaster response 2.0: What aid might look like in 30 years time (by Malka Older, for The New Humanitarian) Decolonising Aid: A reading and resource list Why Science Fiction Is a Fabulous Tool in the Fight for Social Justice | The Nation Kim Stanley Robinson: Remembering climate change ... a message from the year 2071 | TED Countdown   BOOKS AND AUTHORS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future (2020) Malka Older, Infomocracy (2016) Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower (1993) Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward: 2000–1887 (1888) H. G. Wells, A Modern Utopia (1905)  Ursula K. Le Guin (see The Dispossessed, 1974) Walidah Imarisha (see Octavia’s Brood, 2015) Joanna Russ (see The Female Man, 1975) Cory Doctorow, Walkaway (2017) Neon Yang, The Tensorate series (2017-19) Martha Wells, The Murderbot Diaries series (2017-21)

11 Jan 202359min