The Friday Humanitarian Scan

Since the day I became a humanitarian there is one habit that I have tried to stick with; reading. I follow reports, policy notes, blogs, evaluations, and think pieces. Sometimes there are simply too many to keep track of, yet the work done by fellow humanitarian and development professionals bring new ideas and lessons learned into our practices. Still, publications are abundant, and being human limits our ability to catch them all (pun intended!). This is exactly why I am launching a new series on my blog. It is 2026 and we have cool tech to help us to run a humanitarian scan.

Every Friday, I will publish a curated list of humanitarian resources released during the past week, grouped under four familiar lenses: Cash assistance, Social protection, Localization and General Humanitarian.

This first post covers publications released between December 2025 and 2 January 2026. From next week onward, the scope will be simple and strict: only what was published in the previous week.
The aim is not to summarize everything, but to help practitioners quickly see what is new, relevant, and worth their limited reading time. If you work on or curious about CVA, MPCA, shock-responsive social protection, localization commitments, this series is for you.

The Methodology for the Friday Humanitarian Scan

The methodology is intentionally uncomplicated, but I would love your comments and suggestions to improve it further; especially at the resources side.

I developed a Python-based script that:

Scans selected humanitarian websites and RSS feeds
Searches for predefined keywords linked to each category
Automatically classifies publications into:
- Cash assistance
  Keywords: cash transfer, cash assistance, CVA, MPCA, multipurpose cash, cash-based, voucher, CTP
- Social protection
  Keywords: social protection, safety net, social assistance, social transfer, welfare, social security
- Localization
  Keywords: localization, localisation, local actors, locally-led, local leadership, Grand Bargain, local humanitarian
- General humanitarian (“Other” if you will)
  No Keywords, publications that do not match any of the above keyword sets are automatically classified as General Humanitarian. There are also news from The New Humanitarian, I tend to forget or do not have time to check it daily, so at least I can do it weekly now 🙂
Compiles the results into a structured dataset that I then review before publishing

It does not provide AI-generated summaries, ranking by popularity. Just structured discovery.

The automated scan pulls publications from the following humanitarian platforms via their RSS feeds:

HD Centre (Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue) (Mediation, peace processes, and humanitarian diplomacy perspectives)
ReliefWeb (Global humanitarian updates, reports, policy notes, and analysis)
CaLP Network (Cash and Voucher Assistance research, guidance, blogs, and learning products)
The New Humanitarian (Independent journalism and in-depth analysis on humanitarian crises and aid policy)
Humanitarian Practice Network (HPN) (Operational research, field experience, and practitioner-focused analysis)
ICRC Law & Policy Blog (International humanitarian law, policy debates, and legal analysis)