The Beyond Borders, Beyond Crisis Initiative convenes research–policy dialogues to examine how humanitarianism is being reshaped under conditions of protracted war, mass displacement, and systemic political failure across the WANA region. Building on the initiative's first expert roundtable on humanitarian access and protection under siege, Workshop 2 marks the beginning of a second phase of engagement under CHS's broader research programme, After the Fire: The Future of Humanitarianism in the Arab World.
Workshop 2 will be held online over two days on 19–20 May 2026, in light of ongoing disruptions to international travel. The workshop will focus on systemic pressure, disruption, and research agenda-setting in the aftermath of the US/Israeli war on Iran and its wider regional implications. It will examine how recent developments have intensified already existing pressures on humanitarian action across Palestine/Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Sudan, including disrupted supply chains, deepening poverty, large-scale displacement, sanctions regimes, shrinking funding flows, and challenges to operational continuity.
The workshop's purpose is to move from the BBBC Initiative's initial emphasis on access and protection toward a broader analytical focus on humanitarianism under systemic pressure. Rather than treating the current moment as a complete rupture, the workshop will explore how it represents an intensification of longstanding regional dynamics, including siege, blockade, sanctions, political manipulation, and unequal aid architectures. It will also consider how civilians and local actors continue to sustain humanitarian responses despite growing constraints, while international and regional humanitarian systems face increasing challenges related to accountability, independence, equity, and duty of care.
The workshop will be guided by two overarching questions:
How is humanitarianism being reshaped across Palestine/Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Sudan in the aftermath of the US/Israeli war on Iran?
What analytical and policy frameworks are needed to understand humanitarian practice, accountability, and solidarity under conditions of regional war and systemic failure?
Across two online sessions, the workshop will map systemic pressures on humanitarian action, including disruptions to logistics, sanctions, funding, and operational continuity. It will analyse displacement and poverty, with particular attention to Lebanon and Gaza, while also situating these dynamics within protracted crises in Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. It will examine the political economy of humanitarian financing, including donor reprioritisation, constrained Gulf-based engagement, and implications for humanitarian independence and equity.
Day 1 will focus on Humanitarianism Under Regional War: Disruption, Continuity, and Systemic Pressure, exploring how the US/Israeli war on Iran has intensified cross-cutting dynamics such as war economies, sanctions, logistics, and geopolitics. Day 2 will focus on Displacement, Poverty, and Supply Chains: Humanitarian Action under Conditions of Breakdown, centring displacement at scale, disrupted supply chains, and under-researched dimensions of humanitarian breakdown.
By the end of Workshop 2, participants will help identify priority research questions, conceptual lenses, and policy-relevant themes that will inform future work under the After the Fire framework and lay the foundations for Workshop 3 in June.