HUMANIFESTO – EDITION 14

Kabul/Istanbul Flight, 2 May 2025

I have had a fortnight in China and Afghanistan, both for the first time in over a decade.

In Beijing, the future of the humanitarian system was the key topic. Chinese Ministers stressed that they want to be a reliable and long-term partner. China is already a leader in disaster relief, having rushed teams to Myanmar, Pakistan and Türkiye. After visiting China’s emergency centre, I hope it can play an even bigger role on the global stage in disaster relief.

Having also seen - at the space centre - the technology that goes into climate early warning systems, I see this as another area of potential partnership for us, given the UN Secretary-General’s Early Warnings for All initiative. China also makes 80 per cent of the world’s solar panels, on which so much of the humanitarian effort will depend. I was struck by how green Beijing has become. Much to follow up.  

My visit to Afghanistan was sobering. Aid cuts are now biting, hard. 400 clinics have just closed – leaving 3m people without access to primary health care. USAID has saved hundreds of millions of lives over decades. I hope that as the State Department’s review concludes, we can work together to identify what lifesaving work they will continue to do and where, and then to take a clear list to other partners of the essential activity that must be saved.

Climate again featured prominently. After four decades of conflict, 23m people – half the population – need help. It will now be drought, rather than conflict, that drives this number up: Afghan temperatures are rising by twice the global average. I announced more funding for the innovative work we will do to get ahead of future crises.

The visit was also a chance to take stock of how reforms to the aid sector are kicking in. The Humanitarian Coordinator and country team are the Humanitarian Reset in action: prioritizing hard, sharing services; dropping logos, egos, and silos; localising, using more pooled funds; sharing more power with communities and local NGOs; and taking bold in-country leadership. I asked our brilliant teams to test the impact of all our activity against simply handing cash to women in Kunduz. The new model will reward ability to work collaboratively rather than defend turf. Proceed until apprehended.

I met de facto Ministers and the Governors of Kandahar and Kunduz. They stressed progress in tackling drugs and insecurity. Throughout, I underlined the vital importance of women and girls to the humanitarian effort, and to Afghanistan’s future. Millions have had their education stolen from them, and now have their medical support taken by cuts. The many women I met urged us to balance public statements and quiet engagement. They told me they wanted to be heard, not saved.

Afghans displaced from Pakistan were another big theme. We launched a new returns plan, and I visited our reception site near the Pakistan border, where families arrive with nothing and take their first steps towards building their new lives. It is a great example of the UN collective in energetic, coordinated action: UNHCR and IOM registering people, UN Women and UNFPA providing women and girls with support and dignity, UNICEF running a boisterous childrens’ centre, WFP providing high energy biscuits, and WHO polio jabs. Amid the acronyms, when it works, we know it. Great to see.

In a transactional geopolitical world, Afghanistan doesn’t have much to trade. We must find the arguments for support. Despite the cuts, the UN will stay the course, saving as many lives as we can with what we have. I made the case through media while there.

I reflected on the nature of communicating on humanitarian issues during the visit. I believe we should be open and creative. But there are complexities: In Afghanistan, many (especially women) don’t want to be filmed, so it is harder to get their voices heard. And as a male outsider, I find it tricky to get the balance right. The communities we serve are not props or supporting actors in our comms. We must also think about reaching new audiences we need to be part of the humanitarian movement, not just communicating at donors and other humanitarian actors. Ultimately, any money spent on comms must also pass the test of whether it would be better to simply give the cash to women-led projects.

While in Afghanistan, I issued a further statement on Gaza, where the blockade continues to impede our efforts to save survivors. Aid, and the civilian lives it saves, should never be a bargaining chip. Blocking aid starves civilians. It leaves them without basic medical support. It strips them of dignity and hope. It inflicts a cruel collective punishment. Blocking aid kills.

Next to Copenhagen, to meet the Foreign Minister and take part in a vital UN leadership retreat, with the UN80 programme (and the Humanitarian Reset underway) central. In the UN, most ideas and discussions leak fast – there was audio out to journalists within minutes of my last all-staff meeting. But I hope that this meeting will be an opportunity to think openly, calmly, and bravely about the changes we must make – not because of funding cuts, but because we have a mission to deliver.

Do get to the Forbidden City if you can – an incredible insight into China’s culture and history. Anita Anand and William Dalrymple’s podcasts are a great guide to Afghanistan’s history. I’ve started reading ‘Dancing in the Mosque’, by Homeira Qaderi, letters from a mother to her son about overcoming oppression. I thought often during the last week of Khaled Hosseini’s brilliant ‘Kite Runner’, which I also saw adapted for stage last year.

And as for music, believe it or not, a creative colleague asked AI to write a song about our humanitarian reforms. It came up with a Shania Twain style number. Obviously I don’t endorse all the algorithm’s views on the UN, but it was catchy. We will find a way to share it in the next bulletin. I just need to avoid humming it at the leadership retreat.

That seems too frivolous a note to end on. This is a tough time to be a humanitarian. I know how anxious and angry people feel – understandably – about the vital work we are cutting and the colleagues we are losing because of the brutal funding cuts. There is no good – let alone perfect – way to do this, and we will make mistakes. But we must look out for each other, stay as focused as we can on the mission, and start the fightback for the values we share and the people we serve.

All best wishes,

Tom