ALNAP’s State of the Humanitarian System (SOHS) Report has taken stock of the humanitarian system for the past 20 years. For the 2026 edition, The Hague Humanitarian Studies Centre together with the Humanitarian Observatories, led the in-country research report component of the SOHS 2026.

The Humanitarian Observatories are organised spaces where participants, representing multiple actors, discuss a variety of topics in relation to humanitarian governance. They are intended to be complementary to humanitarian coordination (at a local/regional/national level). There are currently 16 active Observatories globally.

More information about the Humanitarian Observatory Network

The sixth edition of the SOHS report looks at the period between 2022-2025, a time we all now call ‘The Humanitarian Reset’. Following the Covid pandemic and the fall of USAID, this period marked a shift in the humanitarian system. Are we achieving what the localisation agenda set out to be? What is the system shaping out to be and what do practitioners and people affected by crises envision the future of humanitarian aid?

Together with ALNAP, the Humanitarian Observatories added an in-country research component to the newest edition of the SOHS report: