Background

Reliable mortality estimation remains one of the most politically sensitive yet operationally essential gaps in humanitarian crises. Although mortality data is central for understanding crisis severity, guiding programme design, and ensuring accountability, it remains fragmented, inconsistent, and chronically under-resourced. As inequities widen and attention to crises is increasingly shaped by political interests and media visibility, locally led mortality estimation offers a critical pathway toward more equitable, evidence-informed, and needs-based humanitarian action.

This hybrid session brings together leading organisations driving methodological, operational, and systems-level innovation to explore why mortality estimation matters now more than ever - and how the sector can work collectively to build a sustainable, locally-led approach fit for purpose in the humanitarian reset.

Purpose of Session

This session centres the role of local leadership in strengthening humanitarian mortality measurement. While local and national actors are often best positioned to collect, interpret, and act on mortality data, they remain structurally under-supported to do so.

The session will explore four core questions:

• Why must mortality estimation beprioritisednow to promote equity and counter political distortion in humanitarian decision-making?
• What evidence shows that national and local actors are best positioned to lead mortality measurement in crises?
• What challenges constrain national partners - from access and coordination barriers to political pressures, technical limitations and financing gaps?
• How are partners working to address these challenges through localisation of tools, aligned strategies, capacity-sharing partnerships and sector-wide collaboration?

Drawing on experience and evidence from highly constrained settings including Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia, this session will convene national and international researchers, operational partners, humanitarian decision-makers and funders to explore how innovation and collaboration are expanding what is possible for locally-led mortality estimation.

Speakers will showcase cross-consortia efforts and emerging models that reduce barriers for national actors and support sustainable leadership in mortality measurement. Additionally, the session introduce the ambitions of the Systems Innovation Partnership on Mortality Estimation in Crises - the only dedicated funding initiative investing focused on this area - to build a coherent, equitable, and locally-led ecosystem. Building on evidence and insights from Phase 1 and 2 research, including case studies from national entities currently implementing mortality estimation, panelists will reflect on the political, financial, technical and coordination barriers that must be overcome to establish sustainable and robust locally-led systems.

Expected Outcomes

Participants will:

• Gain a clearer understanding of the political, technical, financial, and coordination challenges affecting mortality estimation - and opportunities to address them.
• Explore practical recommendations for strengthening mortality measurement systems.
• Build new connections among national actors, practitioners, researchers, and donors to support collective action.
• Identify pathways to advance locally-led approaches and embed mortality estimation as a routine humanitarian metric.
• Strengthen commitment to ensuring mortality evidence meaningfully informs humanitarian decision-making.

Target Audience

This session is intended for:

1. Humanitarian actors and decision-makers involved in designing and implementing health and other humanitarian response (including NGOs, CSOs, UN, donors and cluster coordinators)

2. Policy-makers and other humanitarian stakeholders who engage with, interpret or rely on mortality evidence regardless of their technical background.

Register here to join online.