The paper reflects on how the severe the 2025 funding cuts - including the abrupt US “Stop Work” order - shocked the humanitarian system, forcing it into hyper-prioritisation and resulting in widespread job losses, a rapid contraction of operational presence, and a dramatic narrowing of humanitarian scope. It highlights the emerging ‘evidence crisis’ and warns that without a more considered attempt to learn from 2025, particularly from those affected most by the choices that have been made, the humanitarian system risks “moving forward blindly.”
This paper is part of ALNAP's prioritisation research series and will feed into the upcoming State of the Humanitarian System report 2026.
