Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief  Coordinator, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

As humanitarian needs continue to soar and protracted crises become the norm, the global aid system is at a crossroads. At the heart of calls for a bold reset is a simple but urgent question: Are we doing enough for the people caught in the middle of conflict, disaster, and displacement?

Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, has been pushing for fundamental reform. In this conversation with Beyond Crisis, he reflects on what a people-first humanitarian system should look like—and why deeper partnership between humanitarian and development actors is key to moving from short-term relief to lasting recovery.

When you speak with people living through conflict or disaster, what do they tell you they need most—and how do we make sure the global system is built to hear and act on those needs? How do we ensure the system stays grounded in what matters most to those directly affected?

Tom Fletcher: When I speak with people living through war, earthquakes or floods, they ask for not just food and tents – but above all, they want safety, the chance to go home, and a better future for their children. They want to be seen as people with resilience and agency – not as victims receiving charity.

Too often, our system still designs aid responses around mandates, as if people’s lives fit neatly into ‘humanitarian’ and ‘development’ boxes. They don’t. People live both at once, and our response must reflect that. This means investing more in local responders and building better feedback loops so people can tell us what is working and what isn’t. If we don’t listen, communities risk getting trapped in cycles of dependency. If we succeed, we shift the trajectory towards resilience and preparedness. 

But that takes courage – the courage to move power and resources to those closest to the crisis.

You’ve called for a bold reset of the humanitarian system. What does that reset look like for someone living in the middle of a crisis? What would it take for this transformation to be truly felt at the frontlines of human suffering?

TF: For a family in a city under siege or a camp for the displaced, funding cuts aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet – they are life-threatening. Our job is now brutal triage: to save as many lives as we can with the money we have. We have already hyper-prioritized our global appeal, slashing 30 percent from our global financial requirements and targeting the most acute needs. 

The reset I’ve called for – Define, Deliver, Devolve, Defend – is about making change tangible on the frontlines. Define the key priorities that truly save lives. Deliver fast – with humanity and accountability. Devolve more resources to local partners who know best. Defend international humanitarian law and principles when they are under attack. 

This is about cutting red tape and bringing decisions closer to households and not agency headquarters. The reset will only succeed if the people we serve can feel the difference.

With crises escalating and budgets under pressure, what still gives you hope? What gives you confidence that we can still turn things around—and what should we build on right now?

TF: What keeps me going are the people living and working in emergencies. The Syrian doctors still running clinics after a decade of war. The Sudanese women keeping people fed through community kitchens amid the hunger crisis. The Palestinian teachers who open makeshift classrooms in the rubble. They remind us that courage is contagious – and that even in the darkest moments, neighbours still help neighbours. 

Our job is to scale that spirit. That means forging partnerships to break silos and tapping into sources of support, ranging from the private sector to the global public. It means we must safeguard our work through stronger defence of humanitarian law. We are not short of ingenuity or humanity - but we are short of political will and resources to do the work. 

If you could write the next chapter in how humanitarian and development actors work together, what would its title be? And what do you hope people will remember about how we responded in this moment?

TF: I’d call it From Agencies to Agency. Because if we only ever treat symptoms, we will never shrink the caseload of human suffering. I want people to look back and say: this was the moment when the international system finally fully joined up relief, recovery and long-term development – investing not just in food parcels, but in schools, jobs and resilience. 

Humanitarians cannot keep patching wounds. Development actors cannot sit on the sidelines until peace magically arrives. The truth is that people live in the messy middle – in displacement camps, in border towns, in places ravaged by climate shocks. This is where we can save lives and rebuild futures – this is the chapter we must write now.