What is most important to us is bringing fresh thinking to challenge the status quo of humanitarian aid.
We are independent and non-operational, so we have the luxury of asking the hard questions. The cross-cutting theme of our work is promoting improvement in humanitarian aid. This means challenging the distribution of power and the way things are done within the sector in order to push for better outcomes, better accountability and better humanitarian action.
Our thematic focus areas have developed from listening and responding to sector needs, gaps and curiosities. These areas draw on the expertise, knowledge and skills of our staff, national consultants and partners, and regional advisors.
Our work in this area strives to build that evidence base, elevating local leadership in the process. Working with our amazing local partners, we have built frameworks for how to measure the sector’s progress toward localisation and begun to understand the impact of empowering local leadership.
We’ve worked in partnership with international and national actors on a range of initiatives, from supporting localisation strategy development, organisational programming, and the nuts and bolts of how supporting local leadership can work in practice.
The diversity of our workforce, how inclusive it is, and how it supports inclusive humanitarian response and humanitarian protection are special interest areas for us. We’ve conducted research on diversity and inclusion for humanitarian agencies, review their policies and strategies, and develop protection frameworks and training.
We’re interested in the big picture and the detail – from strategy development, to program design to assessing impact. Our expertise lies in asking (and answering) the question: How can we learn from our successes and our mistakes to improve humanitarian action?
