From Uncertainty to Opportunity: Navigating Responsible Transitions in Times of Polycrisis

We’ve been thrust into what is perhaps the most pivotal moment in the aid sector with the implosion of USAID in a matter of weeks. Organizations are facing unprecedented challenges in managing inevitable transitions due to staff layoffs and closures. How can we ensure as responsible a transition as possible and navigate the risks amidst this crisis moment? 

What we’re witnessing is a fundamental transformation in how aid is delivered, perceived, and sustained at a time when global needs are not just persistent but intensifying. Transformative change requires us to view this time of uncertainty not as an obstacle, but as a generative space for reimagining power dynamics and collective futures. We must center the wisdom of communities that have survived and resisted oppressive systems. By integrating these experiences, we can develop adaptive strategies that go beyond traditional change management—creating flexible, healing-centered approaches that redistribute power, validate multiple forms of knowledge, and build resilient mechanisms for navigating profound systemic shifts. This approach transforms transitions from technical challenges into opportunities for collective healing, learning, and fundamental redesign, recognizing that meaningful change emerges through collaborative, nuanced processes that honor complexity, human dignity, and the profound resilience of communities navigating uncertain times. 

Navigating Transitions 

As this funding landscape evolves, the frequency and complexity of organizational transitions will increase. Our experience has shown that successful transitions, even under tight timeframes and limited resources, require:

Preparation Phase:

• Robust stakeholder engagement and transparent communication
• Realistic assessment of local partner capacity and support needs including technical capabilities, management systems, financial sustainability, and network strength
• Documentation of institutional knowledge and processes focusing on key relationships and contacts, historical context, and lessons learned
• Initiating discussions around funding diversification and exploring potential organizational models

Decision Phase: 

• Deepening stakeholder engagement
• Creating a detailed inventory and prioritizing core roles and services that must be maintained or transitioned 
• Developing comprehensive communication strategies for all stakeholders
• Exploring post-transition relationship models

Process Phase: 

• Implementing transparent communication with regular updates to all stakeholders
• Gradually transitioning core roles while ensuring service continuity
• Supporting the development of new funding strategies and organizational structures, especially for local partners
• Begin testing post-transition support systems 
• Regularly assessing progress and adjusting strategies

Transitions don’t mark the end of partnerships but rather their evolution. Post-transition relationships and roles are pivotal to continuing our work in this sector:

• Knowledge exchange and technical support
• Develop frameworks for advocacy collaboration and policy influence 
• Surge capacity support – volunteering or remotely when needed
• Resource mobilization support
• Formalize new partnership arrangements focusing on clear roles and responsibilities, coordination, and communication with joint planning

Maneuvering Risk

Organizations are navigating multiple risk dimensions at this moment. As we navigate this time collectively as a sector, this collection of resources offers some suggestions and recommendations. It is time to tap into the incredible knowledge and resilience communities already have and not impose solutions from above. 

Some key points to consider: 

1. Streamline and adapt processes based on different types of operating environments and with considerations of humanitarian needs, while giving country teams authority to manage their risks dynamically, moving away from a centralized risk management system that prioritizes documentation over action.
2. Ensure that risk management is owned by people rather than governed by the process – reflecting values and people’s ability to detect risks earlier and adjust course quickly, guided by process, policies, and procedures.
3. Be timely, transparent, and honest! And utilize a shared language or vocabulary that fosters collective understanding across different organizational functions.
4. Ensure that teams and staff know where to go for information and support, and that they have information on which rules apply to whom and in what scenarios, as well as what support is available for them in this moment.
5. Adopt a risk-sharing approach and attitude, recognizing that risk management is a mutually beneficial exchange to diffuse power dynamics.
6. Prioritize partnership integrity: Shift from viewing risks solely from an organizational perspective to a “Do No Harm” approach that considers the broader humanitarian objectives and protects local partner organizations from undue burdens.

The current polycrisis demands that we abandon the fantasy of control, reimagine a transformed ecosystem, and rethink our roles. It is time we replace charity with a global network grounded by solidarity, where resources flow like water, not controlled but circulating and nourishing. A system that honors the wisdom of communities who have survived multiple layers of systemic violence and aren’t passive recipients but active architects of their own healing and transformation. A system that addresses holistic and generational healing. 

We must adapt our approaches to be as complex, interconnected, and resilient as the communities we aim to support.

This isn’t just work. This is a transformation of compassion, of listening, of true solidarity.

About the author

Hasangani (Hasi) Edema-Reynolds is a passionate and experienced humanitarian professional with a deep understanding of the intersection of the humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding nexus. Over the course of her 9+ years as a practitioner and a researcher particularly in fragile and post-conflict contexts, she has honed her proficiency in multi-sector response, recovery and resilience programming as well as humanitarian advocacy, program management/implementation and fundraising.

Hasi’s unwavering commitment extends to issues including shifting power within the HDP nexus, social cohesion, and gender equity, positioning her as an empathetic advocate for positive change in these vital domains. In her current role as a program manager, she plays a pivotal role in supporting CDA programming, grounded in action research around nurturing accountability and shifting power. Hasi’s skill set is as unique as it is comprehensive, with expertise spanning research, humanitarian advocacy, and robust systems thinking.

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