Degan Ali is a humanitarian leader and global voice for decolonising aid. As Executive Director of Adeso and Founder of the Global Consolation, Degan is redefining what ethical, community-led humanitarianism looks like in the 21st century.
With a background in policy reform, development innovation, and grassroots mobilisation, Degan has spent two decades at the helm of transformative shifts in the international aid system. Her work dismantles traditional top-down models in favour of locally owned, community-driven solutions that restore dignity, agency, and long-term resilience.
Degan’s philosophy challenges the foundational assumptions of the aid sector. She believes humanitarianism should not be about power and pity, but about justice, equity, and solidarity. Her approach centres local leadership, financial autonomy, and narrative sovereignty, ensuring that communities are not just consulted, but in control.
Her signature frameworks include Decolonising Aid, a call to restructure the sector’s financial flows and power hierarchies; Community-First Design, which places indigenous knowledge and local priorities at the core of programming; and Narrative Reclamation, which equips Global South organisations to tell their own stories on the global stage.
Through Adeso’s pioneering work in cash transfers and localisation, Degan has influenced UN policy, shaped sector-wide accountability standards, and mentored a generation of African civil society leaders. Under her leadership, Adeso has moved from being an implementer to a vocal convener of structural change, amplifying Southern voices and catalysing a more just global system.
Degan is a frequent speaker, writer, and disruptor across humanitarian and philanthropic circles. For Degan, her purpose is to dismantle the systems that entrench inequality and build new ones rooted in trust, justice, and the lived wisdom of communities.
Degan Ali is a humanitarian leader and global voice for decolonising aid. As Executive Director of Adeso and Founder of the Global Consolation, Degan is redefining what ethical, community-led humanitarianism looks like in the 21st century.
With a background in policy reform, development innovation, and grassroots mobilisation, Degan has spent two decades at the helm of transformative shifts in the international aid system. Her work dismantles traditional top-down models in favour of locally owned, community-driven solutions that restore dignity, agency, and long-term resilience.
Degan’s philosophy challenges the foundational assumptions of the aid sector. She believes humanitarianism should not be about power and pity, but about justice, equity, and solidarity. Her approach centres local leadership, financial autonomy, and narrative sovereignty, ensuring that communities are not just consulted, but in control.
Her signature frameworks include Decolonising Aid, a call to restructure the sector’s financial flows and power hierarchies; Community-First Design, which places indigenous knowledge and local priorities at the core of programming; and Narrative Reclamation, which equips Global South organisations to tell their own stories on the global stage.
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Through Adeso’s pioneering work in cash transfers and localisation, Degan has influenced UN policy, shaped sector-wide accountability standards, and mentored a generation of African civil society leaders. Under her leadership, Adeso has moved from being an implementer to a vocal convener of structural change, amplifying Southern voices and catalysing a more just global system.
Degan is a frequent speaker, writer, and disruptor across humanitarian and philanthropic circles. For Degan, her purpose is to dismantle the systems that entrench inequality and build new ones rooted in trust, justice, and the lived wisdom of communities.
