with lots of thanks to the STAAR facility and FCDO for supporting the study

A clear message from a workshop we held in December was the need to engage with Gulf actors support on their terms. Not please fund our projects now western governments aren't - but are there ways in which we can collaborate starting with a better appreciation of what Gulf actors are doing?

It was a real privilege to work on it with him and opened my eyes to the importance of Gulf State aid to people in crises and the ways in which it is different from the Western aid system. UN agencies, INGOs and western donors need to do more to understand and engage with Gulf State actors

The brilliant Sultan Barkat 's report on how Gulf State actors support social assistance in crises has just been published - socialprotection.org/discover/pub...

New report from @prhho.bsky.social , Orzala Nemat, @abbystoddard.bsky.social, and Glyn Taylor on the response to the 2025 Afghanistan earthquake.
Read it here - humanitarianoutcomes.org/Afghanistan_...
Join us for a webinar next week on the topic: October 29 @ 15:00GMT shorturl.at/hXkAE

Some things that struck me:

FCDO fired its Sudanese staff after the evacuation of the embassy, surge hasn't worked, the office is under-staffed, restrictive security inhibits the ability of staff to get to Sudan and the approach to localisation has been limited and too cautious.

UK aid to Sudan - an Independent Commission for Aid Impact review Find out more about ICAI's review assessing the UK’s support for Sudan and people affected by the crisis in neighbouring countries

An Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) report on UK aid to Sudan is out - icai.independent.gov.uk/review/uk-ai... Lots of detail and balance. Congrats to those involved.

Ooh - real work. Lots of good luck.

Looks like it - are you no longer there?

There’s a long and ongoing tradition of work requirements in humanitarian relief with lots of odd terminology. Cash or food for work - as opposed to jobs

Dependency and humanitarian relief: a critical analysis In many emergency contexts, aid agencies hesitate to provide aid for extended periods because of fears that doing so may create ‘dependency’. These concerns can influence decisions about levels of ass...

And tangential but maybe interesting- odi.org/en/publicati...

Timely Cash: Lessons From 2,500 Years of Giving People Money To Federica, Margherita, and Giovanni,the three shining stars of my firmament.

Maybe @ugentilini.bsky.social ‘s - academic.oup.com/book/58850/c...

2025 Aid Worker Security Report - Defenceless: Aid worker security amid the humanitarian funding collapse, is now available for download here - humanitarianoutcomes.org/AWSR_2025
#WHD2025 #ActForHumanity #Notatarget @unocha.org
@abbystoddard.bsky.social

There are always lots of excuses - short-term funding cycles, blaming the donors etc - but they often seem to me like fixable problems

The answer in Yemen was pretty simple - pay the (mostly women) in lowest paid roles at community level more and provide more secure contracts

Silence over sexual violence in Ethiopia enables yet more abuse, says report The failure to hold perpetrators to account has fueled revenge attacks.

The lack of accountability over sexual violence crimes in Tigray, Amhara and Afar has triggered yet more violence, says a new report by Physicians for Human Rights and the Organisation for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa.

And look out for forthcoming work by @gauthiermarchais.bsky.social and colleagues on social assistance in Niger for BASIC research @ids.ac.uk

Tune in @valentinabarca.bsky.social @ugentilini.bsky.social @jeremykonyndyk.bsky.social

Investing in local social protection workers in protracted crises - Institute of Development Studies This event will explore the opportunities for smarter investment in frontline capacities for social protection in deepening crises.

Mark your diaries for - www.ids.ac.uk/events/inves...

No-one suggests trying to run a health system without doctors and nurses but in too many crises we're trying to provide assistance without investing in the workforce needed to do it properly. Monday 21st July at 2pm UK time

Someone who’d been a fixer for a mining company helped me order, recommended a local ‘factory’ of little old ladies with sewing machines and worked for Concern for the next 15 years

As I sat in Dushanbe wondering how I was going to buy 30,000 blankets and get them to Afghanistan and doing a chicken impression to try and get fed 1/2

Deadline extended to the 13th - so you can head to the beach for the weekend and still get it in

Cc @knowlesmarco.bsky.social @richardchirchir.bsky.social @socialprotection.org @ugentilini.bsky.social

Global Public Enquiry The High-Level Panel on Social Protection in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings convenes this public enquiry to address the urgent and complex challenges of delivering and sustaining social protec...

Deadline for submitting evidence to the high level panel on social protection in settings of conflict and fragility is July 6th. Get your thoughts in while you can www.surveymonkey.com/r/enquiry_so...

Where next for social protection financing in crises asks Sophia Swithern and Kirsty Lazer for BASIC Research @ids.ac.uk www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/fin...

Interested in humanitarian security risk management? Visit the Good Practice Review 8, 3rd edition, interactive website to explore all the book content, security terms glossary, further resources, and much more ➡️ gpr8.humanitarianoutcomes.org

Huge congratulations @abbystoddard.bsky.social , Adelicia Fairbanks @marianaduqued.bsky.social MJ and all of the rest of the @humoutcomes.bsky.social team involved and all of the main other contributors and collaborators and HPN for publishing it @hpg-odiglobal.bsky.social A vital resource.

A Snowball Effect: Lessons and Outcomes from the Dec’s Pakistan Floods Response 2022-2024 - Humanitarian Advisory Group

And a Humanitarian Advisory Group evaluation of DEC funding for the floods in Pakistan - humanitarianadvisorygroup.org/insight/a-sn...

And a @heregeneva.bsky.social paper on principles in Sudan that I had missed - here-geneva.org/wp-content/u...