Nothing like a controversial reform priority – the so-called nexus between humanitarian aid, development and peacebuilding – to bring out the dark humour of aid workers.

Triple nexus memes (2020) 

A curation of our in-depth reporting from the heart of several hidden insurgencies, as more than 40 conflicts unfold in countries around the world, many of them largely out of view.

Forgotten conflicts (2015 onwards)

The debate has stood the test of time: This analysis exploring arguments on both sides continues to be among our most-read stories, year after year.

Should child soldiers be prosecuted for their crimes? (2011)

This documentary series profiles exceptional people involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Heroes of HIV (2009)

The story of a Yemeni girl forcibly married to an old man at just 10 years old in exchange for a $1,000 dowry – and how readers stepped in to help.

‘I’d rather die than go back to him’ (2011)

The wild allegations, fear-mongering, and suspicion that spread in the wake of a global pandemic – and how a non-profit lobby group became an unlikely focus for a convergence of conspiracies.

How a tech NGO got sucked into a COVID-19 conspiracy theory (2020)

Between 2000 and 2014, more than 3,000 aid workers were killed, injured, or kidnapped. This data visualisation tells the story of each of those attacks.

Mapped: 15 years of aid under fire (2015)

Our annual listing of the humanitarian crises and trends to look out for in the year ahead.

Ten crises to watch (2018 onwards)

An award-winning recounting of a brutal 2016 attack on a Rohingya village, with testimony from a woman allegedly raped by seven soldiers – foreshadowing what would follow in the mass exodus that shocked the world months later.

Allegations of Rohingya rape ‘made-up’, Myanmar government says (2016)

Forget Christian Grey, the star of the erotic drama film Fifty Shades of Grey. The challenges for aid workers searching for love in the field are even bigger: “Many are feeling isolated and torn apart.”

Fifty Shades of Aid (2012)

How conflict, weak governance, poor infrastructure, and failing markets caused massive drought – and one of the world’s largest food crises.

We are not the world: Inside the ‘perfect storm’ of famine (2017)

Inside efforts to de-radicalise what was, at the time, the world’s most dangerous militant group.

The Road to Redemption: The unmaking of Boko Haram (2015)

An investigation into the professional history of the man at the heart of a sexual exploitation scandal at aid agency Oxfam in Haiti; the other NGO that had dismissed him for similar misconduct years earlier.

Oxfam’s #MeToo moment (2018)

An early example of the trend that would go on to capture headlines around the world and kill thousands of people at sea: migration to Europe.

By boat to Lampedusa and a new life (2011)

An exclusive commentary on the “lack of accountability entrenched in the United Nations” that led senior UN human rights official Anders Kompass to quit after reporting a peacekeeper sexual abuse scandal in Central African Republic.

‘Why I resigned from the UN’ (2016)

Middle East Editor Annie Slemrod tries to find one boy in a country of 37 million people – and in so doing, tells the story of displacement, return, and war in Iraq.

Searching for Othman (2016)

From a Yemeni doctor’s coronavirus diary to the alleged government cover-up of the true number of cases in Tanzania.

The COVID-19 pandemic (2020)

An Iraqi woman’s impossible choice in the midst of civil war: submit to rape by militants or see her husband killed.

‘I had to forget my honour to save my husband’s life’ (2007)

An intimate account of the war in Yemen – one of the last articles journalist Almigdad Mojalli wrote before he himself was killed.

When the war hits home (2015)

Some of our earliest pieces of original content and the first comprehensive analysis on the instability in DRC, then known as Zaire.

The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (1996 onwards)

A series of short films shows the effects of climate change – from Senegal to Lesotho.

The Gathering Storm (2008)

A documentary about people who refused to be defined by their environment in one of Africa’s largest slums, Kibera.

Slum Survivors (2007)

How a blender and a jar of Nutella in Malawi transformed survival rates of dangerously hungry children.

The birthplace of a nutrition revolution (2007)

An in-depth look at the intersection between Islamic law, jihadism, and humanitarian norms, as aid agencies search for ways to negotiate with Muslim combatants.

Islamic Law and the Rules of War (2014)

Inside the creative tactics used to fight Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, and more offbeat stories.

Explore stories

Triple nexus memes (2020)