The International Rescue Committee has launched Airbel Ventures, a humanitarian impact investing fund targeting breakthrough technologies for crisis-affected communities. The fund plans to mobilise $55 million in catalytic capital to support innovations in areas including digital infrastructure, climate-resilient agriculture and health systems across IRC's 40-country network. Its first investment backs Signalytic, which provides solar-powered computing devices delivering electricity and internet connectivity to rural health clinics. The IRC will pilot this technology with its Nigeria Health team. Airbel Ventures builds on IRC's Airbel Impact Lab, which has advanced over 20 AI and technology initiatives in the past year, including partnerships with Anthropic and AI-powered diagnostic tools for diseases like mpox and tuberculosis. The evergreen fund will reinvest returns to maximise long-term humanitarian impact.

IRC expands food assistance in Afghanistan as 4.7 million people face starvation. Kabul, Afghanistan, January 13, 2026 - As figures show that 17 million people in Afghanistan are now in urgent need of humanitarian food assistance, a new assessment in some of the country's hardest hit areas by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) reveals the depth of the hunger crisis. In response to these findings, the IRC has scaled up emergency food support in Bamiyan, Kunar and Herat provinces. Key findings from the needs assessment, conducted in Bamiyan, Kunar and Herat, include: Amid rising food prices and growing lack of income for most families in Afghanistan, almost 3.7 million children aged 6 months to 5 years old are suffering from acute malnutrition, with around one third suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition. Meanwhile, the arrival of almost 3 million Afghan returnees from Iran and Pakistan has compounded decades of economic turmoil, drought and recurring natural disasters, deepening the country's humanitarian crisis. The IRC is profoundly fearful for the survival of the 4.7 million - more than 10% of the population - who are at risk of starvation. Lisa Owen, IRC Afghanistan Director, said, "Acute hunger is a persistent challenge in Afghanistan, yet the latest figures show an appalling deterioration in humanitarian needs. As the winter season lingers on, more families will be on the doorstep of starvation and yet the humanitarian response in Afghanistan remains gravely under-funded. "The last year has been a significant test for humanitarian actors, who have struggled to keep essential and lifesaving programmes afloat amid severe funding cuts to aid. Aid provided by the United States government has been a lifeline for more than 23 million people living in dire circumstances in Afghanistan, and the IRC has been providing services since 1988. Without the full restoration of this funding, the consequences will be catastrophic. The IRC's reach in Afghanistan has plummeted by nearly two-thirds since U.S. funding cuts took effect - a potential death knell for millions who are at risk of being left without critical food assistance. World leaders must not look away. Humanitarian funding must be scaled up urgently to pull Afghans back from the brink of starvation." In response to rising hunger levels, the IRC has launched a Cash for Food programme to provide cash support to 3,200 households in Bamiyan, Kunar and Herat provinces. Meanwhile, harsh winter conditions have left millions in danger as temperatures plummet and communities have few resources for heating. IRC teams also deliver winterization support, including cash assistance, winter clothing, blankets, and food supplies to help families meet their most urgent needs. The IRC is also supporting health facilities and education classes with heating systems, fuel and winterization supplies, helping ensure continued access to essential services during the coldest months. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) began work in Afghanistan in 1988 and now works with thousands of villages across five provinces. As Afghanistan struggles to recover from years of conflict and natural disasters, the IRC works with local communities to identify, plan and manage their own development projects, provides safe learning spaces in rural areas, basic health services to remote and hard-to-access communities, cash distribution provides uprooted families with tents, clean water, sanitation and other basic necessities, and helps people find livelihood opportunities as well as extensive resilience programming. During the 2025 fiscal year its teams reached 780,000 people in five provinces.

Sudan tops global humanitarian crisis watchlist for third year as devastating war grips the country. Sudan topped a watchlist of global humanitarian crises released Tuesday by an international aid group for the third year in a row as a devastating war grips the northeastern African country. The International Rescue Committee said Sudan was at the top of its annual Emergency Watchlist, which included 20 countries at risk of worsening humanitarian crises in 2026. The IRC called for scaling up global humanitarian funding, which has shrunk by 50% in the outgoing year and is on track to become the deadliest year for humanitarians. The list had the occupied Palestinian territories and South Sudan ranked second and third, respectively, due to debilitating humanitarian conditions. It also included Ethiopia, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon and Ukraine. Syria and Yemen, both riddled with civil wars for over a decade, were also listed. Though the 20-country list represents just 12% of the world's population, it accounts for 89% of those in need, with 117 million displaced people, the IRC said. The group expects the listed countries to host more than half of the world's extremely poor by 2029, calling the crises a "New World Disorder" replacing "the post-WWII international system once grounded in rules and rights." The IRC said many of the conflicts are driven by struggles for power and profit. In Sudan, the group says, the warning parties and their international backers are benefiting from the gold trade, which has devastating impacts on civilians. "This year's Watchlist is a testament to misery but also a warning," Miliband said. "The New World Disorder is here, and winds are picking up everywhere. Disorder begets disorder." The group called for a set of binding actions in response to global crises, including the suspension of U.N. Security Council veto power in cases of mass atrocities. Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023 when a power struggle between the military and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting, with widespread mass killings and rapes, and ethnically motivated violence. This has amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the U.N. and international rights groups. The devastating war has killed more than 40,000 people, according to United Nations figures, but aid groups say that is an undercount and the true number could be many times higher. The conflict created the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with over 14 million people displaced, disease outbreaks and famine spreading in parts of the country. "The scale of the crisis in Sudan... is a signature of this disorder," said David Miliband, President and CEO of the IRC. He called on the international community to take urgent action to stop 2026 from becoming "the most dangerous year yet." Both the RSF and the military were accused of violating international law over the course of the war. However, most of the atrocities were blamed on the RSF, which the Biden administration said it committed genocide in Darfur. The most recent atrocities happened in late October when the Rapid Support Forces took over el-Fasher city, which was the military's last stronghold in the sprawling Darfur region. Witnesses told The Associated Press in Oct. that RSF fighters went house to house, killing civilians and committing sexual assaults in the city. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said last week that war crimes and "potentially" crimes against humanity were committed in the city. Satellite images, analyzed by the Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab, appear to show that the RSF, since gaining control of the city, engaged in "widespread and systematic mass killing," including of civilians attempting to flee the city and those seeking refuge in the Daraja Oula neighborhood, the last known major civilian refuge in the city. HRL's report, released Tuesday, said the RSF then launched a "systematic multi-week campaign" that aimed at destroying evidence of atrocities in the city. The RSF didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.