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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.

The countries hit by climate change are often also those getting peace building funding. Ralf Südhoff welcomes Janani Vivekananda, Head of Programme Climate Diplomacy and Security at adelphi to the CHAtroom studio to talk about climate change and conflict dynamics, and how helping communities adapt to climate change can also help reduce the risks of conflict.

Funding for humanitarian aid is decreasing and the funding gap is at a historic high. At the same time needs are forecasted to further rise by conflict and climate change. This has sparked an international debate on prioritisation. Hugo Slim, Oxford University, has shared highly controversial ideas how donors could refocus their aid. In this podcast Ralf Südhoff discusses with the former ICRC Head of Policy, why he believes political angles, proximity and good governance should become criteria for the allocation of humanitarian aid, even if this contradicts its principles to be neutral, impartial and independent.

Why might the forecasted right populist swing at the European elections be no problem for humanitarian aid? Which other major challenges needs Europe to fix to substantially change its aid approach, and to ensure its fragile financial support? And why does he regret to have not moved reform in a different, more “dictatorship like” style? Former Director General Michael Köhler of DG ECHO shares provocative views on the upcoming European elections, the need for humanitarian reform and his legacy after he retired from 30 years engagement in international affairs in a CHAtroom interview with CHA director Ralf Südhoff.