Breaking the Cycle of Empty Promises: The Emergency Relief Coordinator’s ‘Humanitarian Reset’ must not fail local actors again. A brief in response to the Humanitarian Reset, centring local solutions to turn rhetoric into accountability. Español Français Bahasa Indonesia (May 2025)
The United Nations OCHA Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has called for a Humanitarian Reset – but will it finally shift power to those closest to crises?
As a network representing 318 local and national actors across 43 countries, NEAR (Network for Empowered Aid Response)'s new brief "𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 ‘𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘵’ 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘙𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺” delivers a roadmap based on three priorities:
🔄 Decentralise power to those closest to crises
💰 Redirect resources to local and national actors as directly as possible
⚓ Anchor accountability in communities, not distant headquarters
The brief features concrete asks from our members to donors, UN agencies, and INGOs, and spotlights local solutions already working (from Nepal’s locally led pooled funds to Colombia’s decentralised coordination for peacebuilding and migration).
Read the full brief: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc4fd249698b02c7f3acfe9/t/683dbb709b026e1f802bb437/1748876145499/2025.05+NEAR+Brief+on+the+Humanitarian+Reset_Final.pdf