Resetting the Humanitarian System
#ChangeTheCode (CTC) is a global youth-led advocacy initiative. We are a growing network of 130+ young humanitarians and youth-led organizations working to address the systemic disconnect between global humanitarian pledges and the realities on the frontlines. In May 2016, the World Humanitarian Summit launched the Grand Bargain and the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action, promising a 25% funding target for local actors. However, despite iterations like Grand Bargain 2.0 and 3.0 and subsequent recognition of young people’s positive contribution and leadership (IASC Youth Guidelines and Young Humanitarian Guidelines), progress has been starkly uneven. As chronicled in the Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) 2025, the sector is struggling with deepening crises against historic financing cuts and legitimacy headwinds. In response, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator launched the Humanitarian Reset in 2025 to regroup and reform, promising to streamline coordination, prioritize local actors, and shift power and resources closer to crises. With this Reset now in active delivery mode under the 2025–26 IASC roadmap, we have a rare opportunity to meet the pledges made in the last decade. #ChangeTheCode advocates for the true realization of this reform by demanding that young people who are both largely affected and leading innovations must be included as structural stakeholders. Our motto is simple: Nothing about us without us!
Our MISSION
A humanitarian system where youth and affected communities have an equal say in decision-making.
Our VISION
To shift power, decision-making, and funding towards young people.
CORE VALUES
Youth-led, Accountability, Transparency, Intersectio-nality and feminist lens, Solidarity, Decoloniality, andIntergenerational Equity
We recognize YOUNG PEOPLE in all their diversity, extending beyond rigid age brackets to encompass the transition into adulthood. We are youth across all intersecting identities, including but not limited to young women, LGBTQI+ youth, youth with disabilities, indigenous youth, and displaced young people.
Why Change the Code?
Across the humanitarian sector, there is growing discussion about the need for a “humanitarian reset.” Governments, international organizations, and donors are exploring ways to transform how aid is delivered in response to today’s complex crises.
However, for many young people working in communities affected by conflict, displacement, and climate disasters, this reset often feels incomplete. Despite the growing recognition of localization and community-led action, youth voices remain underrepresented in policy discussions, funding structures, and institutional decision-making.
Change the Code believes that meaningful reform cannot happen without the inclusion of those closest to the challenges. It pushes for a system where leadership is not defined by position or proximity to institutions, but by lived experience, action, and accountability to communities. Young people are not simply the next generation of humanitarian leaders; they are already leading responses today.
To create a humanitarian system that is responsive, equitable, and effective, youth must be recognized as co-creators of solutions.
Our Approach
To ground this movement in lived realities, Change the Code is built on a collaborative, youth-led research approach. This process focuses on generating evidence that reflects how young people experience the humanitarian system, the barriers they navigate, and the changes they are calling for.
Through a global survey and regional consultations across the Americas and the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, Central Asia, and the Asia-Pacific, the movement brings together insights from a diverse and intersectional group of young people. This includes refugees, internally displaced youth, young women, LGBTQI+ youth, youth with disabilities, ethnic and religious minorities, and community-based youth leaders across more than 40 countries.
These perspectives are complemented by engagement with key stakeholders, including organizations such as the World Health Organization and UNICEF, alongside local and national actors.
This approach ensures that the evidence driving this movement is not abstract, but grounded in the realities of those directly affected. It highlights how structural exclusion, centralized decision-making, and inaccessible funding systems shape different experiences across contexts, and why meaningful change must be informed by those closest to these challenges.
Trusted Voices,
Powerful Support
OUR COMMUNITY
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COMMUNITY
More Than First Responders (MTFR) is a digital community of young humanitarians, established and facilitated by ActionAid Global Platform. It brings together young people from diverse humanitarian contexts into a collaborative space to connect, learn, and lead.
Through MTFR, members engage in continuous learning, peer exchange, and mentorship to strengthen their knowledge and practice. The community fosters co-creation of tools, sharing of best practices, and development of innovative approaches to advance youth leadership in humanitarian action. MTFR is open to young people and practitioners committed to strengthening youth leadership, collaboration, and innovation across humanitarian, development and peace agendas.
If you are passionate about advancing youth leadership in humanitarian action, this community is for you. Join the community and be part of a growing movement to strengthen youth-led humanitarian action.
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OUR PARTNERS
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Change the Code is a Global Platform youth-led movement working to reshape how humanitarian decisions are made. We connect young people, networks, and partners across regions to ensure that those closest to the realities of crisis are shaping the systems meant to support them. Through collective action, shared evidence, and collaboration, the movement is driving a shift toward a more accountable, responsive, and people-centered humanitarian system.