Humanitarian Reset and Emergency GapMind the Emergency GAP
Can another humanitarian reset reach those most in need?
December 2025
Helen Richards and Delphine Buyse, Humanitarian Affairs Advisors in the MSF Centre for Applied Reflection on Humanitarian Practice (ARHP)
10 years ago, MSF launched the Emergency Gap project, in response to widespread concerns that the presence of humanitarian actors and the capacity for emergency response was declining, especially in conflict zones. As humanitarian actors contemplate how to restore relevance and legitimacy and return to the ´core business´ of humanitarian work, many of the findings from MSF’s Emergency Gap project remain acutely relevant, in the midst of the unfolding collapse of the humanitarian sector as we know it.