AdvisorThe New Humanitarian
Until Feb 2024, Heba Aly ran the world’s leading source of original, field-based journalism about humanitarian crises, The New Humanitarian. She transformed the organisation from a niche UN project to a hard-hitting, impactful independent newsroom shining a light on forgotten crises and holding the aid sector to account. In 2023, she was awarded the Weintz Humanitarian Award by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, which honors a visionary public figure who has demonstrated superior leadership in a time of humanitarian crisis. Before that, Heba spent one decade reporting from conflict zones in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia as a journalist. She received a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for work in northern Sudan. Her TED Talk, "Stop Eating Junk News", drives home the importance of responsible journalism. Today, Heba convenes frank and forward-looking conversations about the future of crisis response, including through the Rethinking Humanitarianism podcast.