CHAtroom#26: Contested Aid mit Sonja Hövelmann

It is November 2026 and that means the German Bundestag is preparing for the final round of budget debates. Guest in this episode is CHA director Ralf Südhoff, who leads the research project on donor accountability in the  CHA Work Plan 2025–2027. Communications lead Anne Tritschler asks him for an update on Germany's planned budget for humanitarian aid and development and on his concerns that Germany's era as top donor might end and Berlin follow a very interest-driven aid approach. Beyond latest trends Ralf shares what an accountable approach for all donor funding policies could look like and gives an outlook what and whom to expect at upcoming CHA conference titled “Fixing the money – Changing aid for real”. In each episode, we also ask our guests which **Post-it** note they would stick on the workstations of others in the humanitarian sector - you might be surprised what Ralf had to share.

As a result of drastic cuts to humanitarian action worldwide and the ‘Humanitarian Reset’ – the latest United Nations’ reform agenda – the so-called ‘pooled funds’ are playing an increasingly important role. As part of the CHA Work Plan 2025–2027, CHA research fellow Goda Milašiūtė is exploring the potential of various intermediary financing mechanisms to enable and anchor local leadership roles. In this CHAtroom episode, communications lead Anne Tritschler asks her: What different financing mechanisms are there in humanitarian action? Why is such a high priority given to Country-Based Pooled Funds as part of the ‘Reset’? What is meant by ‘quality funding’?

Vor welchen Herausforderungen steht die humanitäre Hilfe in diesem Jahr? In welcher Weise werden die humanitäre Hilfe oder humanitäre Akteure in Frage gestellt? Und wie will das CHA als humanitärer Think Tank diese Umbrüche und Herausforderungen begleiten? Diese Fragen beantwortet CHA Research Lead Sonja Hövelmann im Gespräch mit Kommunikationsreferentin Anne Tritschler in dieser Episode des CHAtroom.

Are we really entering a new era of contested aid – or are we just seeing a little more of the same? Are organisational interests of UN and INGOs in the way for real transformation? And what role should Germany play? In CHAtroom episode #25 CHA director Ralf Südhoff welcomes Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council and former United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator as well as Eminent Person of the Grand Bargain.

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”. CHA director Ralf Südhoff talks with her about the Humanitarian Reset process and why there is a lot of critique from the Global South; how local and international efforts could be balanced, the opportunities, but also possible limitations of a truly locally led system and why country-based pooled funds shouldn’t be the only way channelling more resources to local organisations.

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.

In CHAtroom No 22 we welcome Hibak Kalfan, Executive Director at NEAR, a network of local humanitarian and development actors in the Global South. CHA director Ralf Südhoff asks her about their view on the current state of humanitarian aid and the discussed humanitarian reset.

Niels Annen war Staatsminister beim Auswärtigen Amt und Parlamentarischer Staatssekretär im Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung. CHA Direktor Ralf Südhoff spricht mit ihm über die aktuellen Kontroversen um USAID, humanitäre Hilfe und Entwicklungszusammenarbeit, darüber, warum Niels Annen glaubt, den "Anti-Aid" Rechtsruck unterschätzt zu haben und für ihn eine interessengeleitete Begründung internationaler Zusammenarbeit zentral ist, über die Diskussion um die Zusammenlegung von AA und BMZ sowie seine mögliche Zukunft beim UNHCR.

In the third Conference Special we welcome Shashwat Saraf, Regional Emergency Director with the International Rescue Committee (or IRC) in East Africa to the CHAtroom studio and talk about the biggest changes in the humanitarian sector in the last 25years, the relationship between climate change and armed conflict, social inclusion within humanitarian responses and that we shouldn’t see political stability as an essential requirement for working on climate mitigation and adaption.

Which role could the private sector play in aligning humanitarian climate action? Ralf Südhoff meets Dr Pınar Okur in our podcast studio at CHA24 to talk about her take aways from the session she facilitated, participation and the lack of trust, and why she brought a cardboard megaphone to the CHAtroom.