CHA Conference 2025

Date:	25.06.2025 - 26.06.2025
Time:	all-day
Location:	Berlin Kreuzberg

The CHA Conference 2025 will take place on 25 and 26 June 2025 in Berlin Kreuzberg.

Contested Aid – Power Shifts, Politicisation and Prioritisation

Since the dismantling of USAID and the withdrawal of the USA as a relevant donor, humanitarian and development actors have noted a ‘shock paralysis’ in their organisations, with many experts even seeing the functioning of the humanitarian system at risk. Numerous aid organisations – especially local ones – are in a fundamental budgetary crisis. Moreover, the extensive withdrawal of the USA from international aid programmes is merely the escalation of a process that had already begun in other Western capitals and fundamentally calls into question values and objectives, efficiency and effectiveness, funding and legitimacy of international humanitarian action. In addition the international humanitarian system is being questioned by new state actors and donors as well as local aid organisations, its legitimacy is increasingly being disputed and its ability to reform doubted. The #CHA25 conference and CHA’s new work programme are therefore dedicated to the topic of ‘Contested Aid’.

The conference will examine three trends and discuss potential counter-models: The increasing politicisation of humanitarian action, which, according to numerous donor strategies and narratives, should in future explicitly prioritize political donor interests over humanitarian principles and people in greatest need. Secondly, the accompanying significant reduction in humanitarian and development policy budgets and the resulting pressure for radical financial prioritisation, with the latter at the same time lacking transparent, principle-based criteria due to a growing focus on geopolitical and economic objectives. Finally, this process could lead to fundamental power shifts between more financially resilient aid organisations from the Global North and local aid organisations under threat, between interest-driven donor governments and formally value-driven aid organisations, between pragmatic actors and principled organisations that defend values such as inclusion and gender transformation.

Against this backdrop, #CHA25 will address how “donor accountability” can be achieved and defended at the level of public actors in favour of a principle-oriented prioritisation of declining public funds despite the trends outlined above. What role can coordination and collective leadership approaches play in this context? And what are best practice examples on the part of public donors and aid organisations for value-based, strategic prioritisation?

As members of the civil society, how can aid organisations position themselves vis-à-vis the growing number of ‘anti-aid’ governments? Do anti-aid trends lead to more competition or more co-operation? And what are positive examples of collective leadership with regard to public fundraising and the increased competition for private donors?

Finally, what is the impact of politicisation and prioritisation trends at local level and what is the effect on the relationship between international and local organisations? Are there successful approaches to equal partnerships and joint innovative financing instruments despite declining funding? How are the roles of local and international actors changing as a result? Do concepts of collective leadership offer new opportunities in these challenges, both at the operational level and in the current transformation of the humanitarian system as a whole?

Agenda & Tickets

To address the challenges described above, #CHA25 will offer a set of public international panels on conference day 1. This day will also be streamed online.

Conference day 2 will offer the opportunity for confidential exchange – only for participants in attendance. Together with relevant guests we want to foster an open dialogue on sensitive topics and challenges under Chatham House Rule in discussion and workshop formats.

Please note that in 2025 only online attendance will be free of charge.
With an onsite ticket you will be able to join all panels as well as the workshops on conference day 2 and the evening get-together.
There are various ticket options, including an “Early Bird Ticket” until 25 April.

 

Tickets at Eventbrite