The Humanitarian Cluster System and the 2025 Reset

When It Matters

The cluster approach is a set of structures, processes, principles and commitments for coordinating humanitarian action when a national government asks for international support. In practice, clusters are voluntary groups of humanitarian organizations, each working in one technical sector such as health or shelter.

This page is for staff at local and national NGOs who sit in cluster meetings, or want to, and who have heard the system is being simplified. The change began on 10 March 2025, when the emergency relief coordinator launched the Humanitarian Reset to make the humanitarian system more efficient. Before it, the global system had 11 clusters plus 4 protection areas of responsibility.

The practical question is what this means for your seat at the table. Some of what you have heard is proposal, and some is reported as done. At least one guidance entry you may be relying on, the operational handbook entry on the cluster approach, was marked outdated. The "What Changed" section below separates what is proposed from what is reported as done, so you can decide where to spend your time.

How It Works

Here is how a cluster response runs, before any reset changes are applied.

Activation. Clusters are activated by the emergency relief coordinator with the endorsement of the IASC Principals, when a national government has requested international support. They are not activated in refugee situations. Those follow a separate refugee coordination model, so if you work with refugees, look there instead.
Leadership. At country level, a cluster is usually co-led by an international agency and an NGO.
Membership. Members can be NGOs, international agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and public bodies. There are no fixed membership criteria and no application process. Members are expected to uphold humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.
The funding link. Clusters do not hand out money. But a local organization can generally apply for a pooled fund grant at country level only if it is a cluster member. For a small NGO, that makes attendance a route to funding, even though the cluster itself is not the funder.
Handover. Clusters are time-bound and meant to fill a temporary gap. The goal is to hand coordination to national and local entities as rapidly and as ethically as possible.

Separately, NGOs often coordinate, share information and advocate in national or sub-national NGO forums. These are member-driven and set their own terms of reference and membership criteria.

What Changed in the 2025 Reset

The launch, 10 March 2025. The Humanitarian Reset began with a letter to the IASC Principals.
The proposal, 9 June 2025. The final cluster simplification proposal went to the IASC Principals. Its own diagnosis was that the system had become too heavy, bureaucratic, siloed, centralized at capital level and UN-centric.
From 11 clusters and 4 areas of responsibility to 8 clusters (proposed). The eight are Education, Food Security, Health, Land and Shelter, Nutrition, Protection, Service (emergency telecommunications and logistics) and WASH. Land and Shelter brings together shelter, camp coordination and camp management, and housing, land and property.
One protection cluster (proposed). Protection and its former areas of responsibility for child protection, gender-based violence and mine action would become one integrated cluster.
Early recovery (proposed). It would transform and link with coordination for development and transition, rather than continue as a standard cluster.
Country choice (proposed). The humanitarian coordinator and humanitarian country team would decide which clusters to activate or merge, based on need, crisis complexity and local capacity.
Area-based coordination (proposed). Scaled up at administrative levels 2 to 4, township to district.
Reported as done, early 2026. Two organizations took joint leadership of a new global Shelter, Land and Site Coordination cluster. As of an August 2025 update, the operational handbook entry on the cluster approach was marked outdated and under revision.

A March 2026 analysis describes change over the first year as uneven and incremental.

What It Means for Local and National NGOs

Join the relevant clusters. There are no fixed criteria or application process to join a cluster. Attend the sector meetings that match your work and stay on the list while structures shift.

Ask about co-coordination. The proposal recommends that local and national actors co-coordinate or co-lead coordination groups from the start of a response, wherever feasible. Ask the current leads what it would take for you to co-lead, and what resourcing comes with it.

Track pooled funds. Since membership can decide whether you may apply for a pooled fund grant at country level, keep your membership current.

Engage early in area-based coordination. The proposal calls for clear protocols on information flow, decisions, representation and escalation. Ask how the protocols will be set in your area.

Use NGO forums and networks. These are member-driven and give you a collective voice, including on how the reset is applied in your country.

Make the case for support alongside leadership. One NGO network representative warned in June 2025 that localization without technical support is dumping responsibility. Co-leadership tends to work when responsibility is shared, local actors take a real part in decisions, capacity is built over the long term and resources keep coming.

Common Mistakes

Treating the proposal as settled. The June 2025 proposal is not the same as what has been implemented, and the operational handbook was marked outdated. Ask your humanitarian country team which clusters are active and merged in your context.

Assuming clusters give out funds. They do not, so look to the pooled fund for the money.

Expecting leadership to shift without support. A March 2026 analysis says humanitarian country teams largely exclude local and national actors from decision-making, and that cluster leadership roles are often predetermined. Push for resourcing, capacity-building and risk sharing with any role you take on.

Dropping sub-national engagement. An NGO network representative warned that eliminating subnational clusters in favor of area-based coordination could alienate national NGOs, who value clusters as the most inclusive part of the system. Keep attending locally while the design is settled.

Underestimating due diligence barriers. Local NGO leaders interviewed in 2026 said multiple, complex due diligence processes from funders still keep smaller local NGOs out. Plan for it in your funding strategy.

Example

In 2007 the Philippines adapted the international cluster system to its own national context, and it is now led by the government. For a national NGO, this is one example of the cluster approach being adapted into a nationally led system.