25+ new humanitarian podcasts and others to follow in 2025

Back in 2022 I pulled together a bumper list of 50 must-hear humanitarian podcasts. Since then the aid landscape (and the audio world around it) has shifted dramatically. Conflicts have redrawn maps, climate shocks can be found back in most response plans. Localisation debates have become impossible to ignore. Amid that churn, a wave of fresh podcasts has launched. Bringing new voices and perspectives on humanitarian practice, geopolitics, global development, climate diplomacy and the economics of aid. Hence, a new list with new humanitarian podcasts, as well as geopolitical, localisation, development economics, rethinking power and more podcasts.

Below you’ll find my new selection of some the best of these newcomers, followed by a link back to the original list so you can keep both arsenals of insight close at hand. I am sure I’ve been missing out on many other great podcasts, don’t forget to drop me a line so I can keep updating this list! Happy listening!

Humanitarian practice & reform podcasts

• Frontline Negotiators – CCHN/ICRC Fresh stories of high-stakes access talks. Humanitarian podcasts with humanitarians s share first-hand stories of bargaining with armed groups and authorities to secure lifesaving access in crisis zones
• A Matter of Priorities – ALNAP Six-episode ethics series on who gets aid when resources run short (Oct 2024).
• The Problem with Partnerships – Peace Direct – Explores racism, power and money in localisation (launched Oct 2024).
• Red Vest Podcast – IFRC Unpacking climate disasters, migration and health threats and dive into humanitarian diplomacy, since late 2023.
• Fresh Humanitarian Perspectives – Humanitarian Leadership Academy: HLA’s hosts sit down with frontline leaders and rising voices for candid, skills-focused talks on topics from AI and coaching to mental-health and localisation.
• Trumanitarian: Candid, week-in-week-out interviews, now well past 120 episodes. Probing how (and whether) the humanitarian system can truly reinvent itself.

Development economics & localisation podcasts

• Economies That Work for All – UN Human Rights & UNSSC Human-rights-lens economics series launched June 2025.
• Think Change (new 2025 run) – ODI ODI experts trade rapid-fire insights with guest voices on aid, climate, trade and the future of development.
• Africa Aware- Chatham House Monthly show gathering African policymakers and researchers to unpack the continent’s key political, security and economic debates, always centring African agency.
• This Week in Global Development – Devex Hit 100-episode mark June 2025; sharp weekly briefing.
• Lagos to Mombasa – CGD Africa-focused policy road-trip, back with new episodes.
• From Fragility to Stability – Global Dispatches & CGIAR Limited series on food, water and conflict .
• Hold Your Fire! – International Crisis Group: Gathering frontline analysts each week for fast, ground-level insight into the world’s flashpoint conflicts and the diplomacy that could halt them.

Climate, environment & resilience podcasts

• Climate Diplomacy Podcast Hit its 50th episode in May 2025 with an expanded climate-security brief.
• Disasters: Deconstructed: Hosts Jason von Meding and Ksenia Chmutina dismantle the myth of “natural” disasters, exposing the social and political choices that turn hazards into catastrophes.
• New Security Broadcast – Wilson Center Re-branded feed linking environment, health and conflict (2024 relaunch).
• Weekly Tradecast – UN Trade & Development (UNCTAD) Bitesize pods translating trade, tech and climate reports (since mid-2024).
• Small Islands Big Picture – ODI/RESI ODI’s RESI team spotlights the challenges and remarkable resilience of Small Island Developing States in monthly expert conversations.

Rethinking power & geopolitics podcasts

• Power Shift – The New Humanitarian & Center for Transformational Change Honest round-tables on decolonising aid and shifting power, launched 2025, why?.
• The Rachman Review – FT: FT foreign-affairs editor Gideon Rachman meets global power brokers each week. Unpacking the big geopolitical shifts behind today’s crises.
• The Horn – International Crisis Group: Crisis Group’s Alan Boswell sits down with regional insiders to unpack Sudan-to-Somalia flashpoints.
• State of Play – CSIS Weekly rapid-reaction show unpicking the biggest geo-shifts (debut 9 June 2025).
• War & Peace – International Crisis Group: Quizing leading analysts every fortnight on Europe’s wars, diplomacy and security dilemmas.
• The Interconnect – CFR & Stanford Emerging Technology Review Where frontier tech meets foreign policy; launched February 2025.
• On Geopolitics – Cambridge Centre for Geopolitics Relaunch explores history-informed takes on today’s realpolitik.
• The Lid Is On – UN: UN News’s flagship show lifts the lid on the people, dilemmas and decisions behind headline UN debates.

Investigations & narrative series podcasts

• Missing in the Amazon – Guardian Investigates Six-part deep dive into the disappearance of Dom Phillips & Bruno Pereira (June 2025).
• Age of AI: Politics, Law, Society – Global Governance Institute Interdisciplinary chats on AI governance.