TGL 37 | SUDAN, HAITI, GAZA - The Crises Nobody Is Talking About - Senior VP of IRC Ciarán Donnelly
TGL 37 | SUDAN, HAITI, GAZA - The Crises Nobody Is Talking About - Senior VP of IRC Ciarán Donnelly  
Podcast: WAC Houston
Published On: Thu Oct 08 2026
Description: A humanitarian crisis doesn’t announce itself — but Ciaran Donnelly, Senior Vice President for Crisis Response, Recovery and Development at the International Rescue Committee, sees the warning signs before most of the world looks up. In this episode of The Greater Loop, host Maryanne Maldonado sits down with Donnelly to tour the IRC’s 2026 Emergency Watch List, from the collapsed peace deal driving renewed conflict in South Sudan to the world’s largest humanitarian crisis unfolding in Sudan itself. They cover the IRC’s work in Gaza, the gang-controlled collapse of state authority in Haiti, and the frontline support keeping Ukrainian communities through another hard winter. Plus: the overlooked crises in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Ethiopia that rarely make headlines, and what keeps Donnelly hopeful after 25 years in the field.Hosted by Maryanne Maldonado | The Greater Loop — A podcast of the World Affairs Council of Greater HoustonSubscribe for global affairs content that connects the world to your world.What’s CoveredThe IRC’s annual Emergency Watch List and why it ranks crises by risk of deterioration, not just severitySouth Sudan’s collapsed 2018 peace deal and the return to conflict driving a worsening humanitarian emergencySudan’s civil war as the world’s largest ongoing humanitarian crisis, and its spillover into neighboring countriesThe IRC’s work in Gaza since December 2023 — malnutrition services, mental health support, and water delivery under severe constraintsHow humanitarian neutrality works in practice when operating alongside the Israeli government and other state and non-state actorsHaiti’s collapsed state authority, gang control of Port-au-Prince, and famine-level food insecurityThe IRC’s early, preemptive response in Ukraine and its ongoing work near the front lines ahead of winterDangerously overlooked crises — Afghanistan, Yemen, and a resurging conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray regionWhy Donnelly believes the world has entered an era of permanent humanitarian crisis, and where he finds hope anywayAbout the World Affairs Council of Greater HoustonThe World Affairs Council of Greater Houston believes that understanding the world isn’t optional, it’s essential. For more than 50 years, the Council has brought the diplomats, journalists, experts, and world leaders who shaped global events for honest, unfiltered conversations about what’s really happening globally. Learn more at wachouston.org.