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.