Luluwa Ali, Head of Coordination and Planning with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sana'a, Yemen, shares how she views the Humanitarian Reset as a powerful opportunity for personal growth and self-reflection.
As the UN system, to which I have devoted the bulk of my career, goes through a phase of profound transformation, I found myself reflecting on what change means, what it entails, and how that has the potential to really transform us.
And the Hajj was for me a once-in-a-lifetime spiritual journey where I found myself going through a deep, humbling reset of my own.
It was the first time in years I could finally have the time and space to pause and truly reflect, to look inward and ask myself what really matters in life.
In many ways, the call for a humanitarian reset amid a financial crisis—reforming the global aid system and return to its roots of efficiency, purpose, and integrity—reminded me of the very reason why I decided to become a humanitarian, and the core values that inspire me to serve.
It was a powerful wake-up call to return to simplicity, to the principles that ground me, to the true meaning of humanitarian service.
And in a world of competing narratives and complex geopolitical dynamics, Hajj helped me reconnect to the fundamentals—faith, compassion, humility, and empathy.
I was reminded that everything is interconnected - our service to others, our stewardship of the earth, our call to avoid waste and excess, our duty to care for the vulnerable.
A central call of the Humanitarian Reset is to listen—really listen—to the communities we serve, something that according to my faith, deeply resonates with the Islamic values of active, compassionate, and transformative listening. Listening as a path to justice, a cornerstone of dignity.
Every human life matters. As we are all one ummah, one community, it is our obligation to care for one another. This is why listening becomes so important.
I return from Hajj with gratitude, with a reawakened spirit, and with a personal commitment to embodying the very ideals I’ve spent a lifetime promoting.
As the global humanitarian system reshapes itself, centred around community, accountability, and listening, so do I, ready to continue to serve with renewed faith, focus, and humility.
