Should we talk to the jihadists? | What’s Unsaid

On 7 October 2023, Rita Baroud was a 20-year-old in Gaza thinking about doing a master’s degree. Today, evacuated to France after surviving nearly 20 months of genocide, she’s a journalist who recently met with Macron and told him, “You have to stop this bloodshed”.  In a special What’s Unsaid episode, she speaks to Eric Reidy, our editor managing coverage of Gaza. They have been working together for the past year on a series of first-person articles about how lives in Gaza have been torn apart. These have now been collected into a series titled “Don’t look away”. Please take a moment to read them.  What’s Unsaid is a podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.   

Power Shift is an experiment in dialogue that puts decision-makers in aid and philanthropy and those affected by their decisions in honest, one-on-one conversations about the aid sector’s inequalities. ___ In the latest episode of Power Shift, Hafsar Tameesuddin, a stateless Rohingya refugee and LGBTQ+ rights activist, and Raouf Mazou, one of the UN refugee agency’s highest-ranking officials, navigate the complex dynamics of global refugee protection, the righteous anger of refugees and stateless people, and the challenges of supporting the more than 122 million people around the world forced to leave their homes.  Although their conversations took place before USAID’s dismantlement sent the humanitarian sector into a tailspin, both Mazou’s and Tameesuddin’s proposals for a better refugee response strike right at the heart of the international aid system’s current limitations, calling for more equitable cooperation between global and grassroots organisations, more support for refugee self-reliance, and, consequently, for less reliance on a sector facing major cuts.  “I'm a believer of collective leadership,” Tameesuddin reflected. “In a lot of ways, I feel there is goodwill from UNHCR, from the communities, and all of us. We all want to do good things and want to accomplish something great. “What is missing from my observation is that human interaction and relationship, and really building relationships with the grassroot.” ___ Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube, or search “The New Humanitarian” in your favourite podcast app. You can find transcripts of all podcasts on our website. Are you or anyone you know interested in participating in future Power Shift conversations? Email us with the subject line ‘POWER SHIFT”.

After a decade of fighting jihadist groups in the Sahel – and losing – isn’t it time for governments to try dialogue? Speaking about her research project Negotiating with Islamist and jihadi armed groups: practices, discourses and mechanisms across Asia and Africa, Laura Berlingozzi tells What’s Unsaid host Obi Anyadike she’s detected a “timid openness” from the region's military juntas for dialogue. What’s Unsaid is a podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.   

Power Shift is an experiment in dialogue that puts decision-makers in aid and philanthropy and those affected by their decisions in honest, one-on-one conversations about the aid sector’s inequalities. ___ What happens when a stateless activist sits down with one of the UN refugee agency’s highest-ranking officials? What if they had the chance to tell him what it’s like to lose everything, to have to depend on aid, and what it would take for refugees to have more agency? Can the decisions he makes in Geneva affect the lives of refugees on the other side of the world? And could their conversation change how those decisions are made? Listen in as Rohingya refugee rights activist Hafsar Tameesuddin and UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Operations Raouf Mazou candidly discuss what needs to change in refugee response, and who has the power to change it.  ___ Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube, or search “The New Humanitarian” in your favourite podcast app. You can find transcripts of all podcasts on our website. Are you or anyone you know interested in participating in future Power Shift conversations? Email us with the subject line ‘POWER SHIFT”.

Daylight abductions of permanent residents. Mass deportations with no due process. Homelessness at a record high. Outbreaks of previously eliminated childhood diseases. Sounds like a humanitarian crisis could be unfolding in the US. “When is the UN going to come in?” asks Carlos Menchaca, a legislator, activist, organiser, and former New York City council member.  What’s Unsaid is a podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.   

Power Shift is an experiment in dialogue that puts decision-makers in aid and philanthropy and those affected by their decisions in honest, one-on-one conversations about the aid sector’s inequalities. ___ In the second episode of Power Shift, we continue our candid conversation between Grand Bargain ambassador Michael Köhler, formerly a senior leader of the EU’s humanitarian aid arm, and Nadine Saba, founder of a Lebanese grassroots NGO. As the global humanitarian system faces unprecedented challenges – from donor cuts to accusations of colonial structures – they explore whether the system can truly be reformed, and if reform is enough. Saba speaks passionately from the front lines, sharing how communities are losing faith in a system that often delivers only "Band-Aid" solutions while failing to address – and often instigating – root causes. Köhler acknowledges the system's shortcomings while defending its foundational merits. “Would anything be better without the Grand Bargain? I think no. Would it be worse without the Grand Bargain? I believe, yes,” Köhler says of the major humanitarian reform process, “because we wouldn't have this kind of platform that reminds us [of] the need to get better, to reform, to open up, to share power.” Saba, who represents Global South NGOs, expressed doubt that there was sufficient will for the Grand Bargain to live up to its potential. "When things get difficult, people go back to old habits,” she argued Saba. “I do see that change is incremental. But I fear that it's getting so much incremental that it's not happening.” Their conversation reveals a fundamental tension between Köhler’s technical approach to humanitarian response, and Saba’s close-range exposure to the politics of crises. As this experiment in dialogue came to a close, Israel’s campaign of airstrikes in Lebanon loomed, lending greater urgency to Saba and Köhler’s attempts to come to a common understanding of what it would take to shift power in humanitarian response. ___ Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube, or search “The New Humanitarian” in your favourite podcast app. You can find transcripts of all podcasts on our website. Are you or anyone you know interested in participating in future Power Shift conversations? Email us with the subject line ‘POWER SHIFT”.

Power Shift is an experiment in dialogue that puts decision-makers in aid and philanthropy and those affected by their decisions in honest, one-on-one conversations about the aid sector’s inequalities. ___ Michael Köhler and Nadine Saba are just two of the many people tasked with advancing the goals of the Grand Bargain – one of the most ambitious attempts at delivering humanitarian aid more effectively and efficiently.  As such, they often log into the same meetings by videoconference. And yet, Köhler, one of three ambassadors tasked with overseeing the process, and Saba, a Grand Bargain sherpa representing Global South NGOs, have never spoken one-on-one. Until now.  Over the course of seven weeks in mid-2024, Köhler and Saba met over Zoom as part of the Power Shift experiment – one leading high-level meetings from Brussels, and the other contending with real-life humanitarian crises on the ground as both a local organisation leader, and citizen.  Much has changed in the aid sector since these initial meetings, but the spirited, yet convivial, debates between Köhler and Saba have taken on a new urgency as the world reacts to the loss of major Western humanitarian funding. “Are we relinquishing power? Are we keeping it in the hands of the donors?” Saba challenged Köhler, “And if we're keeping it in the hands of the donor, how much are they attuned to what is happening on the fields? Not much.” Listen in to the no-holds-barred conversations between Köhler and Saba as they take on a range of topics, from the yawning gap between headquarters-level decisions and realities in the field, to the dilemma of donor countries’ competing obligations to constituents and affected people, to the need to treat the Grand Bargain – and other attempts at change – with a lot more urgency.  ___ Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube, or search “The New Humanitarian” in your favourite podcast app. You can find transcripts of all podcasts on our website. Are you or anyone you know interested in participating in future Power Shift conversations? Email us with the subject line ‘POWER SHIFT”.

The Trump administration’s aid freeze is a pivotal moment for the humanitarian sector. Veteran aid worker and TNH CEO Tammam Aloudat doesn’t believe that simply restoring funding will fix a broken system. While imagining what remaking humanitarianism might look like, he makes a plea: “Let’s start shifting the conversation.” The New Humanitarian aims to amplify the voices of refugees, asylum seekers, and people affected by conflict and disaster – placing them at the centre of the conversations about the policies and events that shape their lives. Listen to more First Person stories at TheNewHumanitarian.org.

The US aid freeze has exposed not only the fragility of humanitarian funding but also longstanding dependencies, vulnerabilities, and power dynamics that demand a broader reckoning. This event will explore the urgent need for structural change, seeking clarity and ideas amid the chaos. In what we hope will be one conversation of many, we reimagine the future of humanitarian aid in an era of mounting challenges and transformative opportunities. SPEAKERS The event was moderated by TNH CEO Tammam Aloudat, who was joined by: Deborah Doane – Author of The INGO Problem: Power, privilege and renewal. Dustin Barter – Acting Director of the Humanitarian Policy Group at ODI. Dr. Lata Narayanaswamy – Associate Professor in the Politics of Global Development, University of Leeds. Nidhi Bouri – Former Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health, USAID. Stella Naw – Kachin human rights activist. ____ Got a question or feedback? Email [email protected] or have your say on our socials using the hashtag #RethinkingHumanitarianism.  ____

The fallout from the US aid funding freeze continues. In Haiti, one of USAID’s largest recipients, could this actually be a moment for optimism?  “My instinctive reaction was, maybe now we can take better care of ourselves,” Haitian anthropologist and aid reform advocate, Isabelle Clérié tells What’s Unsaid host, Obi Anyadike.  What’s Unsaid is a podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.