After one of the most challenging years for the humanitarian system, Sudan offers both a stark warning and a source of new thinking. This episode of Think Change examines how local actors are reshaping aid around solidarity, dignity and community leadership.

Sudan’s crisis is unfolding at an extraordinarily difficult moment. Since violence escalated in April 2023, state institutions have collapsed, essential services have disappeared and millions have been displaced. Yet despite the scale of suffering, the conflict has remained one of the world’s least visible, receiving minimal political attention and limited media coverage.

But as formal systems fell away, communities themselves stepped forward. Mutual aid networks – most prominently the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) – have grown out of Sudan’s long history of neighbourhood organising and now play a central role in protecting civilians, coordinating life-saving assistance and sustaining basic services. Operating as volunteers with scarce resources, they have become the only functioning governance structures in many areas.

At the same time, global recognition of their efforts is growing. The ERRs’ innovation and courage have earned nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize in both 2024 and 2025, highlighting not only the impact of their work but also the larger challenge they pose to international actors: to reconsider power, legitimacy and the role of civic leadership when states can no longer function.

With Sudan’s future hanging in the balance, the questions are urgent. What does genuine locally led leadership look like in a moment of institutional collapse? How can global actors support community-driven resilience without undermining it? And what might the ERRs’ example mean for the future of humanitarian action worldwide?

Guests

• Sara Pantuliano (host), Chief Executive, ODI Global
• Alsanosi Adam, External Communications Coordinator for the Emergency Response Rooms of Sudan
• Luka Biong Deng, Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Peace, Development and Security Studies; Former National Minister of Cabinet Affairs of Sudan & Minister in the Office of the President of South Sudan
• Denise Brown, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sudan
• Freddie Carver, Director, Humanitarian Policy Group, ODI Global

Related resources

• From 'ego-systems' to 'ecosystems': renewing humanitarian action (Publication, ODI Global)
• ODI Global and NEAR's advisory panel on the future of humanitarian action
• ODI Global's Sudan resources hub

Online misogyny is becoming a defining feature of digital life, amplified by algorithms and enabled by platforms that fail to protect users. As violence against women intensifies across online spaces, the stakes for gender equality and for democracy itself have never been higher.

Violence online is surging at a moment when digital spaces should be becoming more inclusive. Algorithms reward outrage, platform design obscures abuse, and hostile online communities allow those who target women to organise and radicalise. As a result, violence that begins online increasingly spills into public life.

But the consequences go far beyond individual harm. Abuse aimed at women in politics is already deterring them from seeking re-election, while global progress on gender equality is slowing. With governments struggling to regulate fast-moving platforms and profit incentives working against user safety, digital spaces are becoming sites where exclusion is reproduced at scale.

With the stakes rising, the questions are pressing. What is driving this rapid escalation in online misogyny? How are design choices and political inaction enabling it? And what would it take to turn digital spaces into environments that strengthen equality rather than deepen exclusion?

Guests

• Sara Pantuliano (host), Chief Executive, ODI Global
• Sasha Havlicek, CEO & Founder, Institute for strategic dialogue
• Seyi Akiwowo, Author, How To Stay Safe Online and Founder 21/20 Studios
• Diana Jiménez Rodriguez, Senior Research Officer, ODI Global

Related resources

• Hidden in plain sight: how the infrastructure of social media shapes gender norms | ALIGN Platform
• Digital sexual violence against women in Mexico: role of the Olimpia Law in transforming underlying gender norms | ALIGN Platform
• Social media, violence and gender norms: the need for a new digital social contract | ALIGN Platform
• Drivers of tech-facilitated GBV in Mexico: A behavioural research study in Oaxaca and Estado of México | ALIGN Platform
• Why online safety policies and digital advocacy are essential for women’s political participation | ALIGN Platform
• Break the bias to challenge gender norms on social media | ODI Global

World leaders are heading to the Amazonian city of Belém this month for COP30, as Brazil aims to deliver the most consequential climate summit in years.

This year’s negotiations come at a difficult moment. Concerns around trade relations and national security are dominating the political landscape, whilst a resurgence of disinformation has also pushed climate to take a back seat.

But every five years, the Paris Agreement compels nations to reveal their progress and ambition. Brazil’s COP30 Presidency is expected to launch a landmark plan to mobilise $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 for low-income countries, while negotiators refine how to measure adaptation goals and resilience. At the same time, a rising wave of anti-environment and anti-gender movements threatens to undermine global commitments.

With the world’s biggest emitters under scrutiny, the questions are urgent. What does real success look like in Belém? Can climate ambition survive amid political headwinds? And how can global diplomacy steer the transition toward a fairer, more resilient world?

Guests

• Sara Pantuliano (host), Chief Executive, ODI Global
• Ehsan Masood, Bureau Chief, Africa and Middle East, Nature
• Helen Mountford, CEO, ClimateWorks Foundation
• Sinead Walsh, Principal Research Fellow ODI Global

Related resources

• ODI Global at COP30 (Resources hub, ODI Global)
• Country Platforms (Project, ODI Global)
• From Washington to Belém and beyond: a new era for climate finance (Expert comment, ODI Global)