A visit to Inzargai refugee registration centre in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province prompts host Ali Latifi to explore how governments around the world are weaponising anti-refugee and anti-immigrant rhetoric. Economic and security “frustrations are absolutely real”, Professor Muhammad Zaman, director of the Center on Forced Displacement at Boston University, tells him. “The outsider is an easy and convenient way to let some of that steam out, without really solving the problems.”

What’s Unsaid is a bi-weekly podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.

Today’s First Person story comes from Moussa Kondo, executive director of the Sahel Institute. Moussa recounts how drastically life has changed for everyday people in Mali, where years of conflict, climate change, and political isolation have left more than 7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

The worsening political instability in the Sahel is featured in The New Humanitarian’s annual list of ten crises that demand your attention now, which highlights places in the world where needs are rising, aid budgets have been cut or are insufficient, and where people feel forgotten by the international community. Over the coming months, our First Person series will feature aid workers and people affected by the crises on this year’s list.

Young girls and women are leading the way in driving systemic change, and supporting their communities, but a new report, titled “We need to know the humanitarian sector stands with us”, shows the extent to which they’re being overlooked and underfunded – and makes a plea directly to the sector to change this. The report’s co-author Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah tells host Obi Anyadike that “a real revolution” is required.

What’s Unsaid is a bi-weekly podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.