Policy Brief: The Humanitarian Reset

The Humanitarian Reset—announced by UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher in March 2025—refers to a far-reaching reform project for the international humanitarian system. It aims to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the sector in the face of an unprecedented funding crisis and to ensure its continued existence.

This process represents an important opportunity to implement long-overdue reforms and create a fair, efficient, and effective humanitarian system capable of meeting the challenges of the future. Nevertheless, the process must be transparent and participatory and put local and national humanitarian actors at the center—the very same actors on whose shoulders a future-proof and effective humanitarian system must rest.